Number 51
by Talantur
Summary: What a strange world I've been born in. A world full of wonder and beauty, hatred and destruction, love and sorrow. A dying world full of life. A world where my kind is alien to the race that inhabits it. Human, these fragile beings call themselves. A world that is enwrapped in a war. A war in which my kind must fight each other all for the sake of a madman and his Sekirei Plan.
1. Gate:Begin

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

To those drawn in by the cryptic summary, this story will have:

OC, OOC of some characters (the rest I pray I portrayed well), slight AU as the world is not quite what it is painted as in the manga/anime.

It will also have blood/gore, swearing, intimate contact(undetailed), Yuri.

It will not have: Yaoi.

I write for myself and my muse. However, I am interested in hearing your opinions so, please, take a couple minutes of your time and review. Thank you.

Warning: My muse has something I like to call the Delirium Generator (Ru: Бредогенератор) and she occasionally brings it out. Why, just on chapter 32 I was quite surprised when she brought it out and I found out, much to my surprise, that...well...that would be spoilers, no?

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><p>Waking up was a slow and odd procedure. For the longest time, I just hanged there between the void and reality, unable to will myself to move to either side. My thoughts lazily swam around me, torn and shredded beyond any cognitive reasoning. And then, suddenly, it all changed. I found the strength within me to open my eyes and wake up.<p>

It was odd, to hang there in fluid which was shimmering with soft green light in a giant tube in absolute silence. Even weirder was the fact that I heard confused reasoning that liquid wasn't breathable and I should be drowning right now. Yet I wasn't…

Even stranger was the fact that I knew this, amongst other things. How did I know I was surrounded by fluid? How did I know that I need air to breathe? How did I know what air, fluid and liquid for that matter, were?

It was so strange, to have this knowledge but unable to understand where I got it from and how. It was…curious. Yes, that is the…emotion? Yes, emotion, I felt right now. Curiosity drove my thoughts faster and faster, freeing them from them slow, nigh-solidified state and finally, I moved.

I looked down on my body and strangely, was completely unsurprised to find that I had two arms and two legs. Yet, the presence of two small lumps on my chest sent a part of me into shock. My…sub consciousness? What a long word… It was in denial for some strange unknown reason.

I slowly moved my arm through the liquid and touched the right lump. My body responded to the touch and I mentally shrugged. These…breasts…were a part of my body so I couldn't understand why a part of my mind was panicking. I poked it again and stopped, still confused with the reaction. For some reason a part of me was so convinced I didn't have breasts that the undeniable physical proof of them sent it into shock.

After waiting for several moments, I continued to look around and feel my body. All of my parts, from my long legs to lithe but solid arms where in order. Finishing poking at my body, I felt an odd urge to check the space between my legs. Finding nothing but folds which felt extremely weird when I touched them, I found my sub consciousness knocked out again, this time for no reason whatsoever.

Shrugging mentally once more, I swam to the invisible border – glass, the knowledge came – behind which lay utter darkness that the fluid's light did absolutely nothing to. Bored of trying to see something in the pitch black darkness, I started playing with my long hair which floated around me like a gigantic spider web. Curious, I tried asking my sub consciousness what a spider was. After receiving a mental picture of a close-up shot of the creepy thing I decided that perhaps it would be for the best to not think of such things. I also tried figuring out the color of my hair and skin, but the poor light offered by the liquid only told me that my hair was a bit darker then my skin and that was all.

So, thankful that the random, weird treasure box of information was back with me, I spent what seemed like hours asking it every single question that came popped up in my mind. It was nice having something or someone that was like an eternally patient teacher to sate my curiosity. I almost likened it to a computer before deciding against it. Instead I decided to ask what it was, if it had a name. It took a long while, which I spent playing with my hair, before I got an answer. Archive was the name I got from my information treasure chest. It also identified self as 'he'. Rejoicing, I was struck by a thought which I instantly voiced out to Archive: What am I? Who am I?

When Archive told me that he has no answers for those two questions, only theories and suggestions, I was shocked. Somehow, over the past hours, I got the idea that Archive had the answers to everything and the fact that he said otherwise was jolting to say the least. As soon as I recovered, Archive suggested that based on my observations of poking, touching and seeing, I was a humanoid at least and a human at most.

Humanoids were apparently living creatures that were akin or alike to humans while humans were a chaotic true race. This apparently meant that humans could be the vilest monstrosity to ever plague the universe to polar opposite. The race interested me; it was fascinating how they were literally soft clay that could be molded into any imaginable and inconceivable form. I even started fantasizing about being a human myself before Archive distracted me with his answer to my second question. According to him, a name was something that had to fit me so that, in the future, by remembering my name I would remember who and what I am. A personality anchor of sorts.

As I started thinking about possible names, a bright flash of light blinded me. I cringed and covered my eyes with my hands, trying vainly to protect them. A murmur of voices and sounds shredded the eternal silence I was used to, confusing me even more. As the voices grew closer I forced myself to remove my hands away from my stinging eyes and open them, my curiosity demanding it.

Before my tube, five beings in white coats milled about, their inquisitive eyes on me. I, in turn, studied these…humans, as Archive suggested, and wondered what these particular humans were molded into. It was surprising to me that I couldn't understand them like I could understand Archive. In turn, Archive proposed that they were speaking some Asian language, most likely Japanese judging by the sounds while we spoke a bizarre mix of English, Russian and German. He suggested that because I unconsciously absorb information from him, I also absorbed the languages he knew which happened to be fluent English, passable Russian and broken German.

I was interrupted from watching a brief image lesson from Archive on English, Russian and German when the fluid level in my tube began to rapidly drop. Within seconds I was left on trembling legs which tried to calibrate themselves against the gravity's pull. I even had to lean on the glass to avoid falling down. That turned out to be a bad idea as the glass suddenly split into two and slid back into the two metal walls at my sides.

Thankfully, one of these…scientists as Archive once again helpfully offered, caught me. Judging from what little I learned from Archive on humans, this particular one was a female as my face happened to land right on her chest and I could feel her soft breasts slightly give way beneath my weight. Speaking of which, wouldn't this mean that I am also a female as I also had breasts? Much smaller, true, but I had them.

This gray-haired human tried to guide me to a chair with wheels attached, something Archive called a wheelchair in bland voice. I happened to agree with him, there was literally zero imagination used to make that word. I stopped and straightened up, my legs still unsteady but passable. From the few images Archive sent my way, I was definitely not a cripple or an ancient, dying human to sit on something like that. I would walk, lean perhaps, but walk nonetheless. I showed the humans this by walking past the chair, slowly and with use of the human female at my side as a crutch, but on my own.

The humans muttered between themselves but the gray-haired female at my side said something that shut them all up and smiled at me. One of the human males, judging by the lack of the parts that make a female, hurriedly took off his lab coat and wrapped it around me…as much as he could. It was strange, I thought as I looked down on them all. Perhaps I truly wasn't human as I towered over them all at least a head if not two. In fact, my body was just plain bigger compared to them; it was as if someone scaled everything about me to be bigger than them. Archive expressed a pity that there isn't a mirror, a device that can be used to see one's self he explained, around for me to see just what am I.

We walked, slowly, through what seemed like an endless corridor with closed doors occasionally passing us by. In fact, my room happened to be one of these nondescript doors. The corridor was made of some sort of metal with a recurring simple design of gentle curves trailing in all sort of random directions. These lines also provided soft blue light which by itself wasn't that impressive but through the sheer amount of these lines it managed to completely enlighten the corridor, banishing all shadow. Surprisingly, to Archive anyway, the metal floor was rather warm and somehow soft which made it rather nice to walk on.

The further we walked, the less I bent my back, leaning on the human female, and instead began to straighten up and walk on my own. Our pace began to pick up significantly after that and soon the human female by my side began to hold me back so I don't walk off without them. I had to focus on slowing down my pace which proved to be somewhat difficult due to my long strides. Thankfully, we finally reached our destination as the corridor ended in yet another door, this one colored differently from all other doors. While everything we passed so far was of darker palette, predominantly dark blues and blacks, this one was a bright blue. The woman, another name for a human female Archive explained, opened the door first, led me out and stopped, smiling gently at my stupor.

We were standing at the foot of a small rock cliff and before me was a rocky valley with a small town built in the center with a road stretching from us right through the town. Right across from me a red sun rose, portraying a magnificent image. The humans beside me smiled knowingly and waited for me to wake up from the illusion cast over me. Granted, it didn't take long before I had to blink and the dream was lost. I looked at the woman who was obviously the leader of this group, seeing how she established dominance and led the rest. She smiled at me and we walked down the well-made road to the town.

At closer glance, the town was…odd. It was made of three streets of exactly same single story houses with several bigger, more unique structures opposing them across the main road. It was also fairly empty. I thought there'd be more people, kind of like on the pictures Archive shown me which were full of life. Instead I saw a couple dozen people at most, most of them in strange clothing that tended to blend into the background if I took my eyes off of them. They walked in groups of four with devices on their backs Archive identified as rifles, a type of long distance weapons he explained. They glanced at us warily and most did a strange stance and gesture facing the leader woman. Archive explained this was a gesture of respect and acknowledgement. Judging by everything I've seen so far, this leader woman is a greatly respected person of her race.

We turned at first intersection and made our way down the street before stopping at house on our left just off the middle of the street. The leader woman knocked on the door which opened practically instantly to reveal a middle aged woman in simple shirt and pants. Her eyes however, were exactly the same as the…soldiers? Yes, soldiers we've met so far. They've talked a bit and suddenly, I found myself standing alone before the plain clothed woman as the leader woman and the scientists briskly walked away.

We both looked at each other, studying everything we could. She was, much like everyone else, a head shorter than me, with short hair the color of copper and bright blue eyes. From what I could see, her body type was practically identical to mine, even if scaled down. Deciding something for herself, the woman smiled and stood aside, opening room for me to walk in. I hesitantly smiled back and stepped in.


	2. Gate:Initiate

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

You might've noticed, or you may have not. I do not use the endings the Japanese attach to the names they speak.

The biggest reason (aside from laziness) is that the OC from whose first person this story plays out, doesn't care about them and considers them unimportant whether it was said to them or around them or they should've said it.

To blue-hart: Alas, the way the story is playing out already, I cannot follow most of the guidelines you've setup in your challenge. It is an interesting one though, and perhaps I'll do something with Chiho...I rather like her character.

Thank you, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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><p>Elizabeth Greene was the name of my curator. Baby-sitter, Archive called her. She cooked, cleaned and taught me how to look after myself as well as their language. It wasn't too hard, as I found Archive was an invaluable help in regard of learning everything new. I would look at a page or image, hear an explanation from Elizabeth, Archive would cross-reference that information with everything he knew and then present an explanation to me either in words or images. I learned everything extremely fast, constantly startling my curator.<p>

I still occasionally giggle when I remember her face when I greeted her in broken Japanese on the morning of my first day waking there. Although she taught me many things, she was rather tight lipped on any information about herself or the town and everything in it. She promised me I'll learn everything after some sort of initiation event but it was hard on both of us to contain my curiosity. It took a week for the 'egg heads' as she called the scientists to prepare everything for my initiation event. During said week I learned to control my apparent strength as the first little while I kept breaking or smashing things by accident. It was really funny to see Elizabeth's expression that one time I accidentally pulled too hard on the fridge door handle and took the whole door off. Thankfully, it was just my strength I needed to control, the rest – like speed and ultra-fast reflexes – came to me naturally, through Archive who was invaluable in getting me to measure out the exact amount of my natural skills required to do something. Well, I say exact, but it was more like enough not to damage anything I touch, which was the whole point of the 'adjusting' phase or so Elizabeth claimed.

"Ah, leader woman!" I called out to the gray-haired scientist who was barking out orders to scurrying scientists around her. "Nice to see you again."

"And you too, number 51." She smiled at me, pausing in mid order.

Both I and Archive found it strange how they called me a number, rather than a name. Everyone else had names. In fact, their names were two-part. Family name and personal name as Archive explained. The first for their clan or family while the latter for them alone. Yet I didn't have either. All I had was a number, 51.

"You're just on time; we are ready for you…" She turned and shouted at the nearest scientist sitting at a computer terminal. "Right!?"

"Y-yes ma'am." The poor man stuttered back.

"Good." She turned back to us. "51 come with me."

I followed her while Elizabeth smiled and stayed behind, and suddenly we were standing in front of a glass looking out onto what seemed like a small cement stadium, completely surrounded on all sides by monumental looking walls. At the center of the stadium sat a lone tube, exactly like the one I woke up in. The leader woman glared at a nearby scientist who flinched and hit something on the terminal and suddenly a door opened to the side of the glass. The woman walked down the small set of stairs and started out with a brisk speed across the stadium with me tailing her closely behind.

"So what is this initiation, leader woman?" I asked as we walked. "Elizabeth wouldn't tell me anything."

"First of," She turned her head to look at me. "You can call me Takami. Second, all you have to do is stand in that tube and we'll wake up your power. That is your initiation."

"A power?" I raised my left eyebrow slowly, a move I picked up from my curator. "So I truly am not human?"

"Oh? You've realized that already?" Takami actually paused to look at me. "When?"

"From the very start when I saw how small you all are." I answered somewhat truthfully.

"Pfft. Albeit your conclusion was correct, your premise is incorrect." Takami's lips bent into a thin smile. "You will find that there are humans of your height, just none here."

"I'd have thought your…'Archive' would've told you so." She said casually as we began walking again.

"He doesn't know everything." I hid a grimace as I answered. "Or maybe I didn't bother asking."

I told the curator about Archive on the third day when Elizabeth cornered me and demanded to know just how I was learning so fast. I didn't tell her everything just merely that he compiles all information I learn into a better format for me to learn. Somehow, Elizabeth became convinced that I had an actual Archive of information in my head and it took a while for us to deceive her.

"Listen." Takami said as we reached the tube. "It's a good thing you told us about this 'Archive' or you might've gotten a wrong designation and then who knows how badly your initiation could've gone with wrong setup."

"Designation?" I tilted my head a little to the right in confusion.

"I'll explain after the initiation." Takami replied, waving away my question as she typed something on the console attached to the tube causing it to crack open. "Climb in."

I looked at the tube dubiously before shrugging off the bath robe and slippers I wore at Elizabeth's insistence today and climbed in.

"Don't worry. You won't feel a thing." Takami smiled at me reassuringly before the tube rapidly filled up with familiar glowing green fluid and I felt my consciousness fade away.

I came to just as slowly as I fell asleep. I stretched with my body, my arms and legs becoming a single line before I decided to open my eyes. I blinked and then suddenly felt fully awake at the scene before me. I was standing where I should've been. Inside the test tube but the world around me felt so…grayed out. It was as if I suddenly began to see the world in grayscale rather than in color. Wait, no, that wasn't quite right. I could see bluish-white flame orbs slowly drift around sporadically, there weren't many of them but they were practically everywhere I turned my gaze to. What was weirder was that everything around me wasn't just grayscale. It was also hazy, as if I was looking at a really hot object that heated the air around it so much that it bent the light and distorted the image.

"Well…this is…strange?" I whispered to myself as my hand traveled straight through the glass surrounding the tube and back again. At Archive's suggestion, I took a step forth and walked straight through the glass. Strangely, my body was completely colored, just as I knew it. With my extremely pale skin and light blue hair. In fact…I did a double take. My hair was colored exactly the same shade and color as the flame orbs drifting about.

"51, can you hear me?" I flinched as a distorted and metallic sounding voice of Takami reached me. "Answer me."

"Yes, leader woman." I yelled back. "I can hear you!"

"Good." The same distorted metallic voice called back. "Now, focus on calling back your power. Focus on how you normally are."

I tried. I really did, but nothing happened. So I closed my eyes and told myself that when I open them, I'll be back in the real world. It was strange, but when I opened my eyes, I truly did return to the real world and color once again was back in everything. It was rather odd, but, it was exactly the return of color that made me breathe a sigh of relief. I was worried of being stuck in a world where the only colors were black, white and blue.

The first thing I noticed when I finally came back to the real world was how tired I was. It was a little weird how in the Gray World I was fine but the moment I crossed the line I lost all of my energy. It took everything I had left to keep standing on violently shaking legs.

"Well done, 51." I looked up to see Takami walk briskly to me. "If you continue impressing me, I just might give you the title of the most enduring Sekirei."

"Hi…Takami." I gasped out, still breathing hard in effort to continue standing while regaining my energy.

"Normally I'd just congratulate you with completing your initiation successfully and then give you a name but…" She shrugged and surveyed me carefully. "We have no idea just what your power is."

"So…what now?" I finally found the strength to stand up straight.

"Eat; recover and we shall do a series of test to figure out your power in the evening, 51."

I must admit, I myself was somewhat surprised when the results came in next morning. The evening prior was pure hell and by the end of it I just past out the moment I touched my bed, hardy or no. I must've crossed the border nigh dozen times with my power, each one leaving me gasping for breath and with weak knees.

After tossing on my favourite short sleeved shirt which went down to my hips and sport pants I walked to the kitchen and found Takami sitting there, drinking coffee with Elizabeth, to my wonder.

"Good morning, 51." Takami lifted her cup to me in acknowledgement. I noticed a change in her behaviour to me towards the end of the exams; she even told me that she expected me to pass out hours ago.

"Although…" She smiled tiredly at me, the bags under her eyes telling me just how much she slept from last night. "I should probably call you by your name now, Rei."

"Rei?" I repeated after her, the name coming out as a slow whisper. "My…name?"

"Yes, as in soul or spirit." Takami nodded calmly. "We figured out what your power does, Rei."

She waited until I sat down before leaning in and breaking the news.

"You can cross the border between the living and spiritual worlds at will." Takami stated, excitement shinning straight through her tiredness. "It's a pity I won't have the chance to study…this…wait."

She paused and sat thinking while I mentally congratulated Archive on being right. After thinking hard with all of the results at his disposal, he hypothesized what my power was half way through one of the final exams where I walked straight through a car.

"Yes…that will be a worthy excuse." Takami's voice brought me back. "Let's go Rei. We need to visit the armoury."


	3. Gate:Open

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"…this will increase the training you need to go under and thus will increase the time you stay here and not in Shito Teito." Takami explained as we walked to a large building with the highest concentration of patrolling soldiers.<p>

"Takami." I waited till she finished and then asked her. "You called me a Sekirei. What is that?"

That question has been bothering me for a while ever since I woke up today and had a chance to think about the previous day. Strangely, Archive fell silent at the question and only a couple minutes ago finally asked me to ask Takami.

"Hmm…" Takami slowed her stroll slightly. "You'll start learning the basics today but I guess I could tell you a bit now."

We walked in silence a bit more before Takami finally had something for me.

"A Sekirei is an inhuman race which we, humans, just recently found." She began lightheartedly, her face strictly on the building we were fast approaching. "From what we know, your purpose is to find your chosen…Ashikabi and ascend to heavens with him."

"Huh?" I asked, not understanding a bit of what she said. Unsurprisingly, Archive seemed almost disappointed with her answer too. In a sense she gave us an answer but at the same time it was completely useless as we didn't understand it. It would've been fine if I didn't understand it, Archive would've explained to me later but he didn't get it either.

"Don't worry; it'll make a lot more sense…soon." Takami's head twitched, almost as if she wanted to look at me and stopped instantly. "Come on, we are here now."

The non-descript low seated, gray building before us was heavily guarded with fence and towers with what looked like heavy…guns? Thanks, Archive, yes, guns which were manned by stoic faced soldiers who tracked our every movement. I even began to grow nervous as we walked straight through, the soldiers parting way before us and went down a short stairwell to end up before a heavily locked door.

"Oh hi, 'leader woman'." A young looking guy with some sort of a stick in his mouth that gave off foul smelling smoke grinned at less than amused Takami.

"Stuff it, Leroy." Takami really wasn't amused by the nickname that seemed to pop up from me. "We are here for some weapons."

"Really? And here I thought you came looking for cookies and milk." The blond dodged a smack with the tablet Takami carried with her and opened the gate with a cackle. "I'll be seeing you around, leader woman."

"You keep up with that nickname and I'll invite Karasuba over." Takami promised to the smirking guy.

"Right…haha…" We walked past the guy and Takami swung open the next door. "I do wonder how the Crow is doing."

I ignored his muttering as my eyes feasted on the stands upon stands of various weaponry. Half of them I couldn't recognise and some of them even baffled Archive.

"Walk around, see what calls to you." Takami gestured offhandedly before beginning to read up something on her tablet.

I must've walked amongst the various tools of killing and maiming humanity has developed over the millennia for hours, just drinking in the atmosphere. There was everything here except for firearms. It was a little odd, I found. Why would there be everything but the current weapons in use? Why would they have so many cold weapons of all eras and times but no guns? I gently slid my fingers across the flat of a rapier and decided I rather liked the feeling. Taking the weapon in hand I swung it a couple times and then put it back. Something didn't feel right. It was this feeling that drove me to continue looking. Eventually I ended up where I was now, in the long blades section. These weapons felt most right to me…yet not quite there.

"I see you found it huh?" Takami's voice broke me out of deep thought and I looked at the weapon currently in my arm. "A longsword? I must admit I expected something bigger, like a zweihander with your strength."

"No…it's still not right." I looked at it hard and then picked up a duplicate with my left and gave it a swing. "This is it."

"…That's going to be hard to learn." Takami said after a minute. "But, if you wish to dual wield longswords, who am I to stand in your way?"

The first night before falling asleep after an intense introduction lesson from Elizabeth, Archive attracted my attention. He said that in order for me to survive in the world I am going to be thrown into in half a month; I needed to understand humans more. He offered to show me their history, as much as he knew, through dreams. I, much to my later dismay, agreed. It was…an enlightening experience to say the least. I saw humans become great generals, great leaders and brilliant minds advanced their civilization. I also saw humans become insane serial killers, lose themselves in power and corruption, do genocide and commit atrocities that devastated human development for centuries.

Meanwhile, during the early morning a German swordmaster trained me to use my longswords without accidentally maiming myself within the first strike. We started off slow; he insisted I memorized all of the motions by heart slowly before we began picking up speed. Truthfully, I was humbled. Even during the final exam, my brute strength and speed which easily surpassed his multiple times over, I couldn't touch him. In fact, after a week of brutal training, after seeing me get put down time and time again, Archive suggested that I use plate armour.

His reasoning was that my superior strength and endurance can easily handle the extra weight, while the protection offered by the armour will allow me to ignore glancing hits which I had to block or dodge at the time and instead focus on offence. Takami let herself get convinced really fast, I saw how her eyes lit up after I gave her a design Archive made me draw. The end result was that on my 9th day of training I arrived to the training grounds to see Takami and Dietrich wait for me with a crate. I must admit, I looked damn nice in this cross mix of sci-fi and fantasy plate armour. It was tight fitting and offered full coverage of all my body save for the head which Dietrich and Archive both insisted should be open. According to them it was to allow me full sight as most of the fights are apparently going to be high-speed and losing sight of the opponent was an automatic death.

The armour, made of centimetre thick maraging steel, weighted almost 20 kilograms and was made of polished curves which should allow any blow to slide, lessening its impact. The armour itself was colored red with golden trim with a Sekirei symbol boldly displayed on the back and the same line design I saw in the hallway of the ship I awoke in on the front. I made a very impressive and intimidating figure according to Elizabeth, Takami and Dietrich; although the later one muttered that the day I'd have the skills with the swords to accompany that armour would be the day when I'd truly be intimidating. Aside from the actual plate armour, I would also put on a thin tracksuit underneath made of some synthetic material which not only redistributed any force I receive throughout the body, it also absorbed sweat and would keep my body cool in combat. I really liked it, once I put it on, I tended to forget it existed, it was so comfortable. The final piece that came with my armour was a red tabard with a golden trim which swung just a little higher than my knees. The material was also synthetic and Takami said it was rather hard to get it dirty as well as tear it so it provided a little extra armour down my body. The tabard also displayed a symbol: a blue flame locked in a circle on gray background on the front and the Sekirei symbol on the back. Over all, I was very pleased with my armour.

Although I had no helmet, I insisted on getting a half-mask which would cover my mouth and cheeks. After learning about winging and how it could be done by force, I was in no hurry to get enslaved by some scum. It was fascinating to learn that my power, as amazing as it was, was actually a small fragment available to me and the rest could only be unlocked by a process called Winging. By finding a compatible human, my power could increase exponentially. But, like all good things in this life, nothing came free it seemed. Although I'd get a significant power boost, I'd be eternally chained to the compatible human, the Ashikabi. At first I was determined to never get winged but Archive and Elizabeth managed to talk me out and I, upon learning that True Winging was truly a gift for both Sekirei and their Ashikabi, decided that I will seek my True Ashikabi or none at all.

With the arrival of my armour, after I got used to it of course, it became extremely hard for Dietrich to make me eat dust like he did before. I could completely ignore any glancing blows and my speed, with the tiny amount of skill I gained, was enough to manage to either avoid or parry any direct hits. In the end it always became a battle of attrition in which I always won. Even with nigh 20 kilograms worth of armour on me, I was strong and durable enough to keep fighting for hours. It was actually one of my drills, I'd stand there and practise my blows on a dummy while at the same time I had to dodge or parry rubber bullets occasionally fired at me from all sides. The first time it took me three hours, in full armour, getting the 10 hits necessary without getting hit directly once. By the end of it I fell right then and there but it was still 'damn impressive' according to Dietrich.

There was one thing that was bothering me, Dietrich and Elizabeth though. The armour and weapons I trusted my instincts to pick were…an odd choice in combination with my power. While in Spirit Realm, I couldn't touch any Living Realm object. This meant that my power was literally either terrible spying or excellent fleeing tool. It was literally useless in a fight. Especially in the terrible game I was being prepared to take part of.

I happened to agree with Takami's opinion on Minaka, the resident insane genius and also the owner of everything to do with Sekirei. If I had half a chance, I'd kill him on the spot. Unfortunately, that's where the 'genius' part of this maniac kicks in. If he dies, MBI will automatically collapse and the world will pounce on Sekirei like a frenzied, starved cat. They've tried before, but MBI protects the Sekirei from any covert operations and a direct approach has already cost the world three fleets and nearly hundred thousand soldiers. Upon learning that it was only five Sekirei who did the devastation, I was rather humbled. Also confused, how was I supposed to fight monsters like that? At that point, Dietrich just looked at me weirdly, and then glanced at the stone pillar three feet thick which I pulverized by accident and sighed.

After learning just what kind of legends I was expected to fight against, I and Archive doubled our training efforts. We even began training during the night, the fear for my life driving us on. It was during one of these nights on an empty training field that I finally got a use for my power in combat. The way my power seemed to work was that I'd gather my power like a winding a coil or spring against something. Eventually, I gathered enough power and the coil smashed through that something and suddenly, I was on the other side. What Archive proposed was that I'd concentrate that power and send it down my arms and swords and see what happens. The results were…surprising.

I stared at the line which appeared in thin air, glowing blue. It was as if I sliced open the fabric of air and it was hurriedly stitching itself back up, gone within half a second. I frowned and then slashed at a stone pillar, using the skill I just figured out. Then I looked at my unblemished blade and blinked. The last time I did that, I cracked the pillar into two and completely ruined my blade. A sudden movement drew my attention and found my eyebrows rising in surprise as I stared at the slowly sliding pillar. Within moments if finished and fell down with a thud, leaving the other side standing with a mirror surface where the cut was.

After showing the newly crafted skill to Takami, Elizabeth and Dietrich, we decided to name it Gate:Open. As Takami explained, I literally cut the line between the two Realms when I use it to open a gate. Due to its small size and instability, it collapses almost instantly, taking whatever is touching it to the other side. Whenever I use the power inside of me, it does the same thing, it takes whatever it touches to the other side and considering I fill myself up with it, it transports both me and whatever I wear. Archive then made me draw a complete circle using Gate:Open. I did it, but it took all of my energy though. The result was intriguing to say the least.

We all stared at the perfect circle just hanging there in midair. No matter how we looked at it, it was always a hollow circle, regardless of the position we looked at it from. Then Archive gave the idea that I should use Gate:Open on it.


	4. Gate:Sekirei

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Please tell me you can return us back, Rei." Takami said calmly after lighting a cigarette and taking a long draw.<p>

The three of us plus a good chunk of the training grounds were currently in the Spirit Realm, a thin blue bubble around us, cutting us off from the rest of the Spirit Realm. When I hit the circle with a Gate:Open, there was a brilliant flash and then the circle pulsed with a blue wave which rocketed out about fifty meters outwards and then closed back in, converging on origin. Upon hitting the origin, there was another flash and suddenly we found ourselves in the Spirit Realm. The whole process took about a second and all of my recently recovered strength. Overall, this new ability seemed to take more than one and a half of my current power reserve meaning it was useless in actual combat.

"Somehow…I am not impressed by the Other Side." Dietrich grumbled, standing near the edge of the haze, looking outwards on the grey world. "You MBI lot wouldn't happen to make an immortality pill yet, would you?"

"Nope, but after we get out of here, I am bumping it up in my priorities list," Takami took another long draw, looking at the blue flames of souls slowly drifting about. "Somewhere towards the top."

"Rei, can you get us out?" Elizabeth kneeled near me as I lay there, recovering.

"I'll…try." I said before reaching out and pulling myself up using Elizabeth.

"You might want to hurry up, the dome is thinning." Dietrich mentioned calmly. "Rapidly."

However, before I had a chance to so much as consult Archive, the dome vanished with a low sound that seemed to roll right through us.

"Umm…" Elizabeth looked around. "Not sure what this ability could possibly be used for."

"I am sure Rei will find a use for Gate:Swap." Takami took a final draw and tossed the cigarette butt on the ground. "At the very least, it's a very nice damage limiting mechanism."

"It kind of takes more energy to cast it then I have." I sighed.

The moment the dome collapsed, we were pulled right back into the Real World, instantly. It was as if we never left…except the time seemed to pass at same rate between the two worlds. Still, I have no idea how Gate:Swap could possibly be useful to me. Even if I do manage to use it, it will drain all of my energy leaving me helpless.

The last memorable thing that happened was the day before I was scheduled to leave. It was during that moment that I realized why the camp was so empty, aside from the soldiers and the research staff. I was on my way to the final exam with Dietrich when I saw Takami direct her research staff as they unloaded about a dozen girls, who looked to be in their late teens, in simple white coats from a bus onto the wheelchairs I saw back aboard the ship. Standing by Takami's side was another woman who was slightly taller with light brown hair, wearing an open robe of sorts that revealed much of her curvy body with a lab coat sitting on her shoulders. When she turned to face me I noticed she had a crimson Sekirei symbol on her forehead.

"Oh, what is this, leader woman?" I walked over and asked Takami.

"Hello, Rei." Takami spared me a glance before turning back to the tablet. "This is the newest Sekirei batch to wake up."

"Eh?" I stared in confusion at the girls. "So…tiny."

Takami laughed at my disappointed face and then went back to yelling-directing the researchers. The girls in turn stared at me with wonder, awe and a bit of fear. I couldn't blame them, really. When I came back to my house and took a look at myself in the mirror for the first time I was awed too, especially when Elizabeth decided to stand by my side with a slight grin. The comparison was truly devastating. It was as if she stood by a giant clad in red and gold armour with two swords at hips and a black, silk half-mask covering the mouth and cheeks. That being said, I think that was the first time I actually stopped and examined myself in a mirror. Before now, I somehow didn't either have the time or the interest to do so.

Unsurprisingly, I was unlike the majority of people on site, Takami included. What was surprising, however, was the degree of similarity between me and Elizabeth. We both had blue eyes, hers slightly brighter than mine though, and we both had pale skin, unlike the Asians – or so Elizabeth claimed. Apparently, humanity was split into several 'races' of sorts and we happened to be in the area where the 'Asian' race was dominant. The notion was quite stupid to me, why would humans fragment their own race like so? Regardless, Elizabeth and I had similar facial structure, eyes and skin. Unlike the copper hair the woman had, mine was light blue, the same color as the ghostly flames of souls. After getting my armour I cut my hair so that it would only extend to the edge of the armour rather than touch my butt like before. At least that was the plan, however – much to my dismay and Elizabeth's laughter – it turns out that my hair spikes, hard, unless long in which case it behaves.

Yes, well, it turns out that I am rather different from the rest of my kind as well. Or at least from the twelve who stared at me with open mouths, in awe. They all seemed much closer to the 'Asian' race, unlike me. Also, did I mention how tiny they were? Takami was taller than all of them and she herself didn't even come up to my shoulder. Perhaps it's me who's different from the rest…

"Don't worry, Rei." Takami waved aside my concerns. "You do look differently, compared to the majority of Sekirei but there's plenty of Sekirei with all sorts of phenotypes."

After consulting Archive and learning that that was just a fancy, 'scientific', word for look types, I sighed in relief and turned to the woman who stood calmly beside Takami. She surveyed me with calm eyes even as I stared at her. This was obviously an elder Sekirei but who?

"Ah, right." Takami turned to the side in order to face us both. "Akitsu, this is Rei, Rei – Akitsu."

"Number 51, Rei, nice to meet you." I offered the woman a hand. She stared at it and then slowly reached out and grabbed it, shaking it gently.

"Ah, I am former number 7, Akitsu." Her voice was as calm and gentle as her looks. "Nice to meet you."

I stared in surprise at Akitsu. To think that a single number stood beside me so casually, a being of such power…

"Why former?" I just had to ask, I didn't know there was a way to be a former Sekirei, how did this happen?

"Remember when I told you things go really bad if we don't know things about you?" Takami lit a cigarette and sighed. "This is one of these times."

"Lady Takami was kind enough to take me in after I became unable to be winged." Akitsu said with a calm tone, showing that she made peace with the fact.

"So…Takami is your Ashikabi?" I frowned, I didn't know Takami was an Ashikabi.

"No-"

"Yes." Takami interrupted her forcefully causing us both to look at her in surprise. "I may never give you wings, Akitsu but I'll be damned if I ever abandon you."

"L-lady T-takami…" Akitsu stuttered in shock, for the first time showing a facial change as her cheeks reddened slightly.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere, Rei?" Takami glanced at her watch even as she smiled at shocked Akitsu.

"Oh crap!" My eyes widened and I turned around. "Nice meeting your Akitsu!"

And then I sprinted off to Dietrich before I was too late. The man greeted me with an evil grin and said that he could finally cut loose and see if I was at least worthy of a warmup for him. The amount of times I sincerely thanked Archive for coming up with the idea of armour in the next fifteen minutes was probably in high double digits if not triple. In these fifteen minutes I finally realized just how much Dietrich was holding back when he taught me in the previous two weeks.

My strength was worthless, I couldn't land a single solid blow and the rest just slid down his blades. My speed amounted to nothing, he just knew where I was going to hit before I even began going through the motions. My stamina, armour and perception were the only things that prevented him from completely demolishing me. Every time I saw his swords approach me I had to move my swords to either block or parry his blades or at the very least dodge enough so that his blade only nicks my armour. At the same time I had to be simultaneously attacking with at least one sword of my own. Dietrich was very keen on making sure I knew that offence was the best defence and with my strength I could afford to do both at the same time.

The final thing that prevented this 'warm up' from finishing within the first several motions was my power. Dietrich was quite keen on breaking my swords every time we trained, making sure that I knew just how fragile my weapons were and ensuring that I knew not to recklessly put them into danger's way. To counter this, I – along with learning not to needlessly put my swords into harm's way – began passively using my power to accumulate some energy down the blade. Not only did this severely decrease the time needed to activate Gate:Open, it also strengthened the blades, making them far harder to damage – let alone shatter.

"Not a bad warmup, Rei." Dietrich smiled as he stood before me, his breath only lightly laboured. "You keep working on your stances and blade technique and perhaps eventually you'll stand on the same level of sword skill as the greatest of your kind."

"Like Karasuba?" I gasped out in surprise. Dietrich was of very high opinion about the Black Sekirei and even once mentioned that if he was to die by anyone's blade it would be hers.

"With enough time and effort, I do not see why not." He nodded. "I'd say a decade of continuous practise should get you high enough to not die within the first minute of a duel with her if she's serious."

I let my head drop in failure as Dietrich began to laugh at my plight.

"You are forgetting something Rei." Dietrich sat down beside me after sheathing his swords. "Unlike you, Karasuba's strength lies within her blade. In order to get to where she is now, she could be nothing but god tier with her nodachi."

"You on the other hand, are a Spirit Walker." He nodded sagely. "Your power lies not in the blades you wield but in Gates you open and close. If you were to fight Karasuba with nothing but your swords, you'll die. That's a certainty, regardless of how much skill you have with your blades."

"Thanks, Dietrich." I finally sat up after recovering my breath. "Your lessons are invaluable to me."

The grizzled man smiled and then began to show me the stances and blade motions for me to replicate and practise on my own in the future. He was quite keen on showing me as much as he could after every training session, taking advantage of knowing that Archive would integrate it into my mind. I even had to do several stances and blade motions I've never done till now before he was satisfied. He was even going to have me swear that I'd continue self-perfect my swordsmanship but I was rather indignant that he even had the idea that I'd stop in the first place.

I couldn't care less about this whole bullshit about ascending to the heavens with my Ashikabi and I just wanted to live. The trouble was, not only did the CEO of MBI, that crazed bastard Minaka Hiroto, had the power to force me to play this sick game, the rest of the Sekirei were not so fortunate to have Archive in their head. Or so Takami said anyway. This meant that they took Minaka's mindless drivel for truth. So, unless I wanted to live the rest of my life hiding in the Spirit Realm - a motion I shuddered at – I would be forced to participate in the Sekirei Plan. Considering I wanted to survive the experience which is designed to have a 99.9% mortality rate, I needed every skill, every advantage possible to be that final Sekirei.

Takami told me, with certainty in her voice, that the final Sekirei-Ashikabi pair will be able to get a wish – any wish. I wonder if I could alter reality with said wish… Go back in time to the point where Minaka and Takami just found the Space Ship and there was no MBI. Minaka may be a genius, but his madness far outweighs his genius. I am certain that Takami alone would be enough to create a new MBI, especially if the Pillar and I help her. A new MBI that serves the Sekirei and protects them not uses them to play sick games. That is my wish that I'd strive and kill for.

After finishing the training I staggered over to the Administration Center, Dietrich was quite insistent that he'd give me the most he could on the final day. I was only thankful for his determination as it was fitting quite nicely with my own. As I passed the guards at the inner doors who merely watched me warily, I sighed in relief to find Takami yelling at the scientists running around like headless chickens.

"Takami…got a minute?" I tapped her on the shoulder and ducked the tablet.

"Rei..." She paused before gesturing for me to follow. On the way she shook her head at Akitsu, telling her to continue her work who merely nodded in acceptance. We made it to her office where she dropped into a chair and gestured for me to do the same.

"Well?" She asked after I sat down while pulling out a cigarette.

"I…" I hesitated, this topic was overdue but it was only today that I finally realized just what I wanted to ask. "Why am I so…different? Why 51?"

"Hmm…" Takami took a deep pull on the cigarette. "You know, only about a tenth of all Sekirei ask this question."

She took another pull and fell silent for a minute while I waited, afraid to interrupt.

"When we found you…The ship had only 1 adult, 8 embryos and 99 fertilized eggs. Of course, we woke the adult up first, then, with her help, we took the first four embryos out of the stasis for a test run. The adult, with the first four came to be the First Disciplinary Squad."

As she took another draw, I stayed quieter than a mouse, so intent I was on this information she gave out.

"After realizing just how powerful they were, we – I, Takehito and Minaka – decided to power down the rest. We failed to do so with the rest of the embryos, nearly fatally so with 7 and 6." Takami lit another cigarette, the memories the topic brought up making her eyes haunted. "We have managed to figure it out with the fertilized eggs though, or maybe it was just easier because they were less developed, or perhaps both… Regardless, it's been a little over seventeen years since we took the first batch of dozen out of stasis and put them into the growth tubes after 'adjusting' their future power level."

"But…how are we to compete with the first ten?" I asked bewilderedly. I was supposed to be fighting legends, monsters of the highest caliber, and here they said that they cut down my power.

"To be honest, #1 decided against participating and even that idiot Minaka can't make her." A ghost of a smile graced Takami's lips. "As for the adjusting…we didn't handicap your power, merely your growth. The first group's power grew too quick and they've wrecked plenty before they managed to somewhat control it. We decided to take away that explosive growth. You'll still reach your full power…just not over a couple weeks like they did."

I opened my mouth to argue. Then I thought about it and closed it. If my power came to me instantly…I shuddered at the thought of plunging the whole island to the other side by accident.

"Okay, I guess I can live with that." I said slowly.

"Don't worry; getting their full power without effort played a foul trick on most of the first group in the end. They, for the most part, didn't bother training it, taking it further than what they had." Takami smiled condolingly. "Now, about your number…"

She took another pull, staring at me through the smoke she caused.

"We give Sekirei numbers based on the order they wake up in. There's a little bit more to it than that but you don't really need to know it." She finally said. "Albeit you were among the first to be adjusted and pulled out of stasis, you woke up months, if not years after your group. For a while we feared that we screwed up something when we adjusted you."

"And no, I don't know why." She leaned back in her chair and brought up her tablet. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask Rei?"

"I…no, thank you for your time, Takami." I stood up and bowed shortly in thanks.

"Don't worry about your age, Rei." Takami said as I reached for the door knob. "You Sekirei don't age past your prime. As far as we know, your lifespan is only reflective of your Ashikabi."

I paused and then quickly walked out of Takami's office. I had too much to think about and albeit the information Takami gave me was priceless, I needed a breather before she decides to dump more on my poor head.


	5. Gate:MBI

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"I guess this is it, huh Rei?" Takami took a long pull on her cigarette as she stood before me on a helicopter pad, the blades of said helicopter beginning to spin to life. "It was a short but very exciting month, wasn't it?"<p>

I nodded and smiled at the people who came out to see me off. Takami in her usual lab coat, armed with a notepad and a cigarette. Akitsu, standing slightly behind her right shoulder in an eternal vigil with that same lab coat draped over her shoulders; the gentle elder sister who woke up a protective instinct in me just by existing. Dietrich, who stood in his casual white clothes which clashed spectacularly with the two swords in black scabbards on his hips, the closest thing I've ever had to a caring father. Elizabeth, the hard, calm, no-nonsense woman who I just loved to mess with and who became something akin to a mother to me.

"I got a departing gift for you Rei." Elizabeth smiled gently as she picked up the bag by her feet and opened it up. "Try this on."

I reached out, taking the piece of cloth from her and unwrapped it to find it being a long, black trench coat, one that would go all the way to my knees. I arched an eyebrow in Elizabeth's own signature move.

"Almost all Sekirei are nondescript, able to blend in with the public." Elizabeth explained. "Although you will still stick out like a sore thumb, at least it won't be as bad as if you were to go out in just plain armour. Do make sure to take it off prior battle though, would you? I spent a lot of money on that coat."

I couldn't do anything but smile and hug the woman gently, touched by her gesture.

"Heh, if you liked that, you're going to love this." Dietrich smirked before pushing a small but long chest towards me with his foot. "It took a lot to make this but hell; I think it's worth it."

I crouched down and opened the chest carefully and then dropped on my butt in shock.

"Is this…"

"Yes." Takami said briskly. "Mr. Dietrich here was rather full of angst about releasing his poor student into the cold harsh world without a suitable weapon."

"Don't listen to that liar." Dietrich coughed in annoyance. "Anyhow, I don't know how Takami managed but these swords are made of the same material as that ship you Sekirei came from. For all I know these used to be part of some chair before they broke it and sharpened it."

"I'll have you know that these are not 'part of some chair'." Takami said irritably. "They are our first test in working with this metal and most likely last for a long time. It just took far too much effort to melt it and work with it. We had to use laboratory grade hot plasma for god's sake."

To be honest, I didn't pay attention to their argument much; I was just so busy staring at the two long swords lying on black silk in the case. Their size and general structure was exactly the same as the generic MBI longswords I've had in my scabbards at the moment so I wouldn't need new scabbards. Aside from that, they were made of the same dark, smoky blue as the rest of the ship but unlike the other places I saw this metal at, it wasn't soft and didn't have the glowing blue lines, it was just blank. Although, judging by the amount of effort they put in just to get this far, I think they just didn't have the finesse required for the fine detail. So, in the end, it was pretty much two non-descript swords, except I could feel they were anything but that.

"It was…nice seeing you, Rei." Akitsu slowly came closer as Takami and Dietrich argued. "I…wish you luck."

I merely smiled at the reserved Sekirei and hugged her, bringing a surprised gasp out of the icy creature. I loved doing this to her, she just seemed like someone who needed a hug, a comfort; her mere presence told me so. The fact that her reactions generally amused me was just the icing on the cake.

"I'll see you again, Akitsu."

It was hard to part from the people who became my family – or so Archive claims -, but I knew it had to be done. I had a game to win, my own race to exterminate and a fucked up present to undo. I couldn't do it just standing here, could I now. I had to keep moving forward, not even a glance back as it would slow me down. Oh, I needed to know my roots and my past to avoid repeating mistakes, but at the end of the day I had to continue onwards to my goal…my wish.

As the helicopter flew over the ocean, towards our destination in Japan, I stared outside, my head leaning on the thick glass, in deep thought. In actuality, I was currently picking apart my decision to use my wish to go back and fix this mess. It was a bit strange and sudden for me to adopt such a life plan out of nowhere. But now that I looked back, I think it's a bit difficult for my wish to be anything else. From the beginning, when I wished to be as free to be who I want to be like humans, to meeting Takami and our regular talks we had after test sessions. Now that I looked at them through a different prism, it was like Takami, Dietrich and Elizabeth were gently pushing me to become someone who they could rely on to bring the Sekirei Plan down given half a chance.

For an outsider, this wouldn't make sense. Why destroy the very thing you've built? From what I understand no one out of those I talked to were simple grunts there just to get paid. Takami Sahashi literally built MBI from scratch with Minaka. Dietrich Sweinog was a blademaster of the highest caliber who, according to some of the snippets he dropped here and there, trained the First Generation Disciplinary Squad. Elizabeth Greene, who tried so hard to cover up and act inconspicuous, was actually the leader of MBI Psych Department and an old friend of Takami as well as one of the founders of MBI. Even Akitsu who some might think as a mere add-on to Takami was genuinely her right hand and where Takami was the Head of the Sekirei Research & Development Department, Akitsu was her CRO – chief research officer.

It was rather easy to look up the information about three of them on the internet. Akitsu was a bit harder to find and the only thing I could find was her name and her position. Of course, nothing of importance was there but a few facts, a few observations and a lot of thinking from Archive yielded the current disposition. Several high ranking MBI officials were very unhappy with current direction of MBI that Minaka was gleefully steering the gigantic company in. And, to be quite honest, I agreed with them. It might be a bit underhanded of them to subtly direct my opinion so, but in the end, now that I know at least partially what's happening, I agree with them. Although I very much doubt that the path to the end result we both seek is the same one.

The question though was, why me? There were plenty Sekirei with far greater powers and abilities then mine. All I am is a Spirit Walker as Dietrich called me. What possible use could I be? Did they really pick me just because I was the only anomaly around? It would make sense to a degree; if a batch of Sekirei is anywhere near a dozen then there just would be enough time to spend with each one like they did with me. Each one of them, no matter how busy they were at the time, would lend at least several hours on a daily basis to spend it with me. To teach me, to guide me. How much time could they afford to give to a Sekirei that's just one out of a batch? An hour? Maybe two at most. The end result wouldn't be anything like me who they literally put their best into. It's…uncomfortable though. I feel like their hopes and dreams are on my shoulders and no matter how broad and big they are I am just a single Sekirei. A Sekirei that they hope can solve the problems of both races.

I'll try. I'll give it my best and beyond that. I could do no less, for them.

"Miss Rei?" I glanced up to see the pilot look back at me and shout. "Five minutes!"

I nodded to show that I understood and, for the first time since I set foot in this flying machine, finally looked outside. We were currently over what seemed like gigantic metal and glass teeth defiantly sneering at the blue sky above. Skyscrapers, Archive called them, what a fitting name. Far down below I could see a moving mass of black. Once I squinted I couldn't suppress a gasp. I thought Kamikura town didn't have a lot of people. Well, now that I could see a black river made up of thousands if not millions of people maybe it was for the best that I didn't wake up to this. I might've had a panic attack. And somewhere, in that black river of no end nor beginning was my Ashikabi. Maybe. Or maybe he was somewhere else in the world, now wouldn't that be a kicker.

Thankfully, I was spared any further shock of staring down on this snaking river when we approached the landing pad and instantly landed, the pilot showing master skills as we weren't even jilted. Climbing out, I noticed a receiving committee and was rather displeased by the composition of it. Granted, in my humble opinion, any welcome committee with Minaka in it was already bad. The white wearing clown stood there in an arrogant pose staring at me through his square glasses.

"So, this is the little bird I've heard so much from my dear Takami!" The man exclaimed as I walked over to them, the coat I wore around my shoulders concealing my armour and my swords partly. "Or perhaps not so little huh."

The gray haired woman with a gray haori over her shoulders who stood on his left leered at his mutter. The final person in this welcoming party was a very short, slim brown haired young woman who stood on Minaka's right. She also wore the same haori and the same black shirt and skirt as the other woman but her features were much softer and gentler.

"And you are Minaka." I said as I approached him, his smile getting dimmer as he realized that I had half a head's worth of advantage over him. "The so called White Clown, if Takami is to be believed."

"Yes, that's my dear Takami." The man laughed uproariously. "But, let's get down to business, shall we?"

He spun on his heel with his hands in the air and laughed.

"Welcome, new bird! To Shinto Teito, the city of Ashikabi!" He exclaimed. "Come, let us go down and talk more."

I nodded and followed the man, the two women who I believed to be Sekirei trailing behind us. It was difficult seeing this man who is responsible for the upcoming genocide of my race so close…yet so far. Killing him now will merely trigger the genocide, effective immediately and with absolutely no future for my kind. It was still tempting to just impale him right here and now. But I couldn't, not yet.

We went down a level and then turned to the right to eventually appear in what seemed like his office. A bit plain it was, just a desk, a chair, a clock, a ton of monitors on a wall and a panorama view of the city. Sitting down he spun on the chair once and then abruptly put his feet down and looked at me seriously, for once.

"Generally, I'd just give you a speech, your MBI ID card and then off you go into the brave new world to find your Ashikabi." He told me seriously. "However, I've seen the reports on your progress from Takami, Sweinog and Greene and I am very impressed. And so, I'll offer you something I don't offer to anyone."

He then reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out a familiar looking gray haori.

"The Disciplinary Squad isn't quite what it used to be unfortunately." He continued over my shock. "And that's not good. I've already had a few attempted raids on Sekirei both in and out of Kamikura Island and although they haven't been successful thanks to Karasuba and Yume here, I have no doubt that they will continue to try."

He stood up and walked over to me, the haori offered to me in his right hand.

"Will you stand guard over the little birds?"

I stared at his hand, this random change of events literally crashing my world down. He wanted me to work for him to enforce the Sekirei Plan. On the other hand, according to Takami and Akitsu the Plan wasn't due for several years as the Sekirei just plain weren't ready. So until the actual Sekirei Plan comes into effect I would be doing exactly what Minaka offered: I'd be defending my fellow race from the greedy clutches of humanity. Not to mention I'd have a much higher chance of surviving the outside world if I were to stay with MBI rather than go out on my own.

"On one condition though." I finally looked up to stare into his eyes, or tried to anyway, his glasses had some sort of a weird shine to them that prevented me from actually seeing his eyes.

"Oh? What is it?" He grinned, amused at the idea that I might turn down his proposition.

"I'll pick my own Ashikabi." I said firmly. "I will not be put with some third rate loser."

"Deal." The man's grin widened to a seemingly unnatural width.


	6. Gate:Baptism

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"So, you are a little-big birdy who caught Minaka's eyes, hmm?"<p>

I glanced at Karasuba as we walked down the corridor several floors below Minaka's office. Somehow I thought the legendary sword wielder would be taller – and she was, compared to everyone I've seen so far – but she still only reached up to my chin. It was still a little shocking that just this morning I was in Kamikura, thinking that I had absolutely no idea what I'd do in Shinto Teito and yet here I am, in the Second Disciplinary Squad of all things. Somehow, I now understood that quote I've heard from Archive some time ago. 'If you want to make a god laugh, tell him of your plans.' How…fitting.

"I am as surprised as you that he did this." I answered calmly, still holding the haori with my hands. "By the way, the clothes you wear…are they a uniform?"

"And what if they are?" Karasuba leered at me.

"Then I might have a bit of a problem…"

"We'll sort it out, do not fear." Yume, the brown haired girl at the lead waved her right hand over her shoulder.

"Well, isn't this interesting." Karasuba grinned at me, her eyes nearly shut from the gesture, as the three of us stood in a training ground of sorts. It was quite astonishing just what these 'skyscrapers' could fit inside them. Yume wanted Karasuba to test my skills to see where I stood. My armour obviously impressed them and now they understood my problem with the uniform. I just wouldn't fit into it.

"Let's see how well it holds up to my blade." Karasuba slowly pulled her sword out, her grin stuck on her face.

"No destructive powers, I don't want the building to collapse on us." Yume told us, well, mostly to Karasuba. She just didn't seem to have faith in me doing anything to Karasuba. Truth to be told neither did I.

"Sorry, I don't have anything that'll cause that much damage." I apologized even as I took a stance with my swords pulled out and at the ready.

"Begin." Yume said and in an instant I was set upon by Karasuba.

It was a very short fight. I parried, blocked and tried attacking as fast as I could but, much like with Dietrich, it was only the fact that I had armour that prevented me from gaining about a dozen bleeding wounds in the first ten seconds of the fight. Karasuba on the other hand merely grinned as she dodged and parried all of my attacks with her nodachi. Generally, she'd have the advantage due to her slightly longer sword, but my longer arms and the longswords I wielded equalized our reach.

"Passable." Karasuba pulled back and suddenly her grin stretched even wider. "Let's see about this…"

"Karasu-" Yume frowned and began to warn her when several things happened at once.

Karasuba charged me with far faster speed then she had before and I slashed at her with Gate:Open to try and prevent my oncoming death. There was just no way I could block or dodge something like Karasuba when she stopped playing around. In an instant, I flew back, a groan fighting out from my lungs as Karasuba kicked me away. The woman in question on the other hand was currently looking at what was left of her sword. A mere foot from the 5 foot blade was all that was left while the rest lay on the ground at her feet. I stood up and readied myself, I had every reason to believe that Karasuba could kill me with a paper knife if she had to let aside an entire foot worth of high-quality steel.

"Interesting." Was the verdict from the gray haired woman who finally looked at me without a smile. "What was that?"

"Nicely done Rei." Yume walked over to us with a smile. "But I must agree with Karasuba here, what did you just do?"

"I am Rei, the Spirit Walker, or so Dietrich called me." I straightened up and sheathed my swords. "I can open gates to the Spirit Realm so what I did just now was use Gate:Open with my blade."

"A Sekirei who can send her opponents straight to the other side, a Shinigami." And suddenly that unnatural smile was back on Karasuba's face. "I think you'd fit quite well with us."

And so began my work with the Disciplinary Squad.

If I had to be honest, I rather liked being where I was right now. We, the Disciplinary Squad had an entire floor to ourselves, complete with separate rooms which were actually houses in disguise, a giant pool with three equally giant training rooms. Every day, was more or less the same. We'd get up somewhere around eight, eat, stretch and then either Yume or Karasuba will proceed to 'train' me. Frankly though, I was more of a glorified target practise. After seeing what my powers can do, Karasuba was quite wary of me in close combat. This really just meant that she wouldn't toy around and instead she'd just proceeded to brutalize me as quickly as possible while at the same time avoiding my blades. That is until she realized that my blades began to glow with an ethereal light blue glow every time my ability was activated and that although I could activate it in a moment, if I missed it could take me another couple seconds to charge up again, especially in a middle of a distractive fight.

It was difficult with Karasuba but passible. I at least slowly improved and each time lasted a couple seconds longer before inevitably biting the dust. With Yume on the other hand… The first time we sparred, the short woman, over whom Karasuba towered over, proceeded to quickly destroy me in melee with just her fists. Somehow, her mere presence makes me forget that she's so much shorter than me, if asked; I'd have sworn that she was at least on my level and I wasn't talking about skill. The moment she came into range, it was over and she'd have to slap me awake. Then there was the time I tried to keep her at distance, more or less running away from her each time she came close. I actually got her upset enough to use her abilities. I think that was the fastest time I've ever activated Gate:Open on myself to slip into Soul Form. The beam of light melted its way straight through the wall of the training room and then proceeded to blast its way through the skyscraper outer wall too and that was just a single beam which lasted a mere second. Even I, who was in the beam's path for a fraction of a second, had to get a new tabard as the old one literally disintegrated. Thankfully, my armour and my plated hands in front of my face saved me from getting burns on my body but it really was a close call. I have 0 doubts that if I was to take that beam full on, I wouldn't be getting back up, armour or no.

What followed after that was a hilarious scene where Yume thought she truly straight up disintegrated me and it was my ghost that she was currently seeing. After figuring out that it was actually just me in my Soul Form she scolded me for not telling her that I could do this. At which I retaliated in saying that she didn't tell me she could fire freaking laser beams at will. The end result was a truce and one laughing Karasuba who was on the floor from laughing too much.

Amusingly enough, Karasuba was very interested in my Soul Form and Spirit Realm in general. Even after hearing about how dull it is and that when I took Takami, Elizabeth and Dietrich there by accident they didn't like it, all she heard was that I could take someone with me. At which point I was ordered to do so which, thankfully, Yume shot down. Although somehow I have this doubt that Karasuba was going to follow that the moment Yume leaves…

Oh and we solved my clothing problem too! I got to keep my amazing armour that was vital to my continuous existence and would merely drape the haori over it, much like the trench coat Elizabeth got me mere days ago.

The days just passed by like that until suddenly, almost three weeks later, we got a mission. And just like that, the break was over and the real thing began.

The mission parameters were actually quite simple. MBI Intelligence Division, ID, received verified Intel that the Chinese were going to be sending several Black Operative Squads to Shinto Teito. While some of the squads will be raising hell as a distraction the last squad would sneak in the city and attempt capture and extraction of any Sekirei they find. Truthfully, this operation was doomed from the start due to MBI's satellite technology which allowed them to read a newspaper from orbit if they wanted to and they covered the city with its surrounding area practically perfectly. But Minaka decided that it would be a nice, easy operation to get me started. I agreed with him, as much as it pained me to agree on anything with the White Clown.

And so, I found myself sitting on an apartment building right over the actual Black Ops squad that was currently making its way through the evening gloom of Shinto Teito. I…was conflicted. On one hand, I was ordered to kill these humans, make an example of them. They were here to kidnap one of my kind and then take her to be experimented on and gods know what else. On the other hand, they were just following orders and…I've never actually killed anyone. Honestly, it all boiled down to that.

Shouts and a gunshot attracted my attention. I looked down to see the group advancing on a pair of civilians…wait. I watched as the girl took up a shaky fighting stance and pulled out knives out of somewhere. A Sekirei then, I had no more time left to make my decision. Her Ashikabi was on the ground clutching his leg while the girl shook from fright as she positioned herself as a shield for her downed mate. In seconds they will take her away, I had no more time.

"Surrender and we'll let the boy live." One of the men in black armour sternly said to the shaking girl in front of him. "I'll give you to a count of-"

How much time he actually was going to give would for ever be lost to history as suddenly in his place stood I, swords at the ready. I deliberately avoided looking down even as he twitched under my steel boots. One does not survive an armoured woman, weighing nearly a hundred kilograms falling on you from the tenth floor. The blood spray covering his nearest two squad mates would be a testament to that. There was just too much of it on them for him to be anything but very dead.

I was very surprised when they lifted their guns and opened fire but a second later. It was as if they had this sort of thing happen to them on a daily basis…but then again, they were Black Ops so for all I know it might've. Regardless of the fact, I suddenly found myself unable to go intangible as that would cause for the duo behind me to get hit. Maybe landing on the guy at the front wasn't a sound idea…

I was thinking this as I rushed the operatives before they could get an accurate bead on me. The bullets flew but they hit anything but me, the men just didn't have the time to actually sight their target and had to rely on shooting practically from the hip. I did have to deflect more than a couple bullets from my head though, my instincts, which were carefully raised under Dietrich's gentle care, telling me where to move my swords to prevent getting killed. Of course, having them sharpened by Karasuba's and Yume's blinding speed was also a bonus.

The first man I reached I cleaved in two, my strength was amplified by my charge which played a foul trick on me as I was sprayed by the man's blood. A part of me was surprised at just how much blood could be released so quickly, even as the rest of me turned and lunged at the nearest operative I could sense, my eyes blinking furiously to clear the crimson liquid from them. It was a very odd fight to say the least. I couldn't quite blink away the blood from the first guy so I had to rely on my other senses to find and kill the operatives while at the same time parrying their bullets that were aimed at my head, the only unarmoured part of my body.

All in all, it was a short fight, over within fifteen seconds with some operatives not even finishing emptying their bullet magazines at me. In the end it was just me standing in a blood soaked street wiping blood off my face so I could finally see. Sighing in exasperation, I just took off my mask and used it to wipe the blood out of my eyes and actually take a look. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to find myself completely alone, the Sekirei must've had the common sense to grab her Ashikabi and run while I decimated her attackers. As I looked about at the bullet riddled street, a chill wind howled and I had to suppress a shudder. This looked like a poorly written horror story, a girl, a broken street and a ton of corpses. The one thing that didn't fit into that cliché is the fact that it was I who was the one who just made those corpses.

I took a closer look beneath my feet and suddenly had to empty my stomach, the picture was just too grotesque. Not only was the street literally bathed in blood, the surrounding houses had blood sprays on them too, showing where the operatives fell, cleaved into pieces. Limbs and guts lay all around with bodies looking like they were fed through a grinder strewn about.

"Not bad for a first mission." I looked up to see Karasuba walk towards me, her patented grin on her face. "I think we might have to rename you to 'The Bloody Sekirei' though."

I looked at myself and shuddered. I literally dripped blood that was not my own. Surprisingly, my armour stood up the test of point blank assault rifle fire extremely well. Well, aside from the cracks and chips it sported in the myriad now. The haori was completely gone on the other hand, a couple torn shreds of gray cloth were all that signified that I once had it. Note to self, next time take it off before a fight.

"Hmm, I think you might need new armour." Karasuba looked at me with fake worry, her grin still there.

"Did…did we finish the mission?" I swallowed and asked.

"Oh yes, we were done a while ago." Karasuba's smile stretched to partially close her eyes. "We were just watching you, right Yume?"

I glanced behind me to find Yume staring at me with a nondescript face.

"Oh, before you say anything," Karasuba called over to Yume. "We were told no survivors."

Yume merely nodded before turning around and jumping up onto the building and away towards MBI Tower.

"Come on, we have got to celebrate your first kill!" Karasuba followed Yume and jumped away, leaving me alone on a street with a bunch of bodies.

I looked around and then jumped up to follow my teammates even as MBI helicopters advanced on the blood soaked street I left behind. This…was not what I expected of my first mission.


	7. Gate:Confusion

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>Waking up on Karasuba's bed with owner of said bed sleeping near me did nothing to alleviate my pounding head. Hell, it just made it worse when I tried to remember just how I got here. Looking at myself while holding my poor head I noticed with some relief that I was still in my track suit. After looking at Karasuba who was still in her black skirt and shirt combo I breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully she won't kill me if I just…<p>

"Going somewhere?" A deadly voice made me freeze as I was about to get up. Glancing higher I gulped to see Karasuba's 'People are about to die' grin. Yes, I was cataloging her grins now; they were actually variations of her typical grin. Granted, all that gave me was that I was about to die in an extremely painful death, but details.

"Do you remember how I got here?" I asked her with all the calmness of a death row inmate who made peace with the world. Or so Archive categorized it anyway. "Because I don't."

"Mmm…" The woman stretched leisurely, her hand just happening to graze the nodachi she had on her pillow. Great, now I knew that Karasuba slept with her nodachi…somehow I wasn't surprised. "Does it matter? You'll die regardless."

Suddenly a third voice groaned, originating from behind Karasuba made us both freeze.

"Shut up…it's too early for this."

The confused and 'did this really just happen' expression on Karasuba's face was priceless…except I knew I sported the exactly same one. We both looked over to see Yume behind the sheets clutching a pillow, facing us as she slept on.

"You know…" Karasuba said slowly, the shock still on her face. "Somehow, I don't think this was supposed to happen."

Turns out that both I and Karasuba had too much to drink last night while Yume was just tired from having to take on three Black Ops groups by herself while also dashing all over the city looking for them. So she decided to take a nap right then and there after dragging us all to a bed. Somehow, in her tired state, she didn't realize that she put us on same bed and that she crashed on same bed moments later. Yume blamed Karasuba for the mess because apparently the Black Sekirei wanted to drink me under the table but due to my body mass being nearly double hers, it evened out the odds even though Karasuba had built up a tolerance while this was my first time drinking.

What this actually turned into was me somehow facing off an angry, tired and hangover Karasuba while Yume decided to nap instead of watching over the spar to ensure that my opponent didn't murder me. I must say, after this sparring session I was forced to finally go and put a requisition order on my armour as it literally fell apart under the Black Sekirei's angry swings. It served me well, for the little time I had it and I actually had trouble throwing it away as it seemed unnatural to me to do something like that to the thing that saved my life on multiple occasions. On the positive side, I managed to slip into Soul Form before Karasuba began to do more than smash my armour off of me.

"I must say, Rei." The White Clown strode before me, his cape fluttering in non-existent wind. How he managed to do so, will forever remain a mystery to me. "I am impressed by your performance. A bit sloppy, but I see the potential in you."

He gestured with his hand on a giant screen on which I dashed towards a Black Ops operative with my eyes closed and my swords unleashing sparks as bullets bounced off them. The screen was playing the video in slow motion so I could see how bullets shattered, split or simply glanced off on contact.

"You managed to save a Sekirei and her Ashikabi and complete the mission with nary a scratch." He spun around and faced Yume who stood with Karasuba by her side. "I'd say good job to you too, but such words for facing small fry would be a bit much, hmm?"

"You are free for now, but the moment little birdies are in trouble you shall be called on." He laughed maniacally as he stared at the city lying before him.

I wish I could say the following year merely blended into a single unrememberable stream, but that would be a lie. I spent the year training, getting demolished by Karasuba, running away from Yume, drinking with Karasuba, drinking Yume under the table and a lot of killing. At some point I just stopped bothering to count just how many corpses I painted my surroundings with. I think it was the fourth or so mission when I and Karasuba went to Russia to kill a renegade MBI scientist who was going to sell everything he knew to the highest bidder. Who happened to be Russians. The strange part was that his guard was American and the only Russian on scene was a mere business representative. I didn't even bother killing him; Karasuba would do it for me.

Something that bothered me was that Archive started to get harder and harder to call, when I questioned him about this he merely stated that this is how it is meant to be. The more of his knowledge I absorb, the more of _him_ I absorb. Soon, there won't be a Rei and her Archive; it'll just be Rei with Archive's knowledge. I won't lie that the thought of losing the very first being I've ever communicated to, the being who kept me company so faithfully for so long…it was frightening. Archive seemed content with it though, he believed that at this point in time he was beginning to be unneeded and it was simply time for him to go. I argued with him on this, but in the end, there was just nothing that could be done.

Some may argue that talking and caring about a being that shares your head is preposterous and unnatural. I couldn't care less; this was my first mentor, my first friend. Losing him…I…

I actually talked to Yume about Archive. Going to Karasuba with this would be pointless, she'd merely tell me to suck it up and get on with it. Archive was fine with it? Then I should respect his decision and enjoy the time I had with him and that was that. Karasuba was rather individualistic like that, with a firm belief that everyone should control their own lives. It clashed rather spectacularly with the Sekirei way of life, what with us supposed to find out Ashikabi and bind ourselves to them, but somehow I doubt Karasuba will ever have trouble with the bond. Her will is strong enough that she could overrule anything she truly disliked and take whatever she truly wanted.

Anyway, Yume and I had a long talk between each other over the matter and eventually Yume told me that if this is what Archive really wanted then maybe I should start preparing myself mentally for the possibility. That being said, Yume told me to never give up, never stop looking for a way to reach my goals, whether it be winning this Sekirei Plan or trying to save a friend's life. So long as I went in, prepared for the worst but striving for the best, chances are I'd get a result that was far more positive than negative. Well, that was how she did everything, she told me with an embarrassed smile. I…I thanked her for this. This conversation was truly what I needed. I think I'll do a combination of what Karasuba and Yume told me. I'll respect Archive's decision and make the best of our time together while preparing for the possibility that he'll eventually leave me. At the same time, I won't stop searching for a way to keep him somehow, anyhow.

Several months down the road, Akitsu covertly gave me a piece of paper which had the details about the upcoming Sekirei plan. Only the first 3 stages were set in stone or at least available to all MBI officer staff. There were supposedly 2 more stages but only Minaka knew what they actually were and he was paranoid enough not to have any physical data on it, computer or paper.

Anyway, supposedly the First Stage began from the day the First Disciplinary Squad broke apart. The First Stage is supposed to be the longest and calmest stage out of 5. The Sekirei would search for their Ashikabi, get winged and live out their lives, for as long as they had. Of course, if they were smart, they'd use the time offered by the First Stage to train so that they don't die instantly in later Stages. Akitsu had a small note here where she wrote that, statistically, less than a fifth of all Sekirei actually bothered to train. It was a little sad actually.

The Second Stage began when there were only 10 Unwinged Sekirei left and this Stage was meant to be quite short. It was in this stage that MBI, or more specifically Minaka, began to take an active part in the Plan. Although the Ashikabi were kept track of now, as soon as Second Stage began, they were all to be transported back into Shinto Teito and the city would be put under lockdown by MBI. Occasionally, at Minaka's discretion, information of current location of an Unwinged Sekirei would be mass-mailed to all Ashikabi in order to shorten the stage. It is in this stage that the real combat is thought to begin. Currently, very few Sekirei actually fight and none take it all the way to deactivation.

The Third Stage is meant to be a series of scenarios, everything from capture the flag to last Ashikabi standing. The reward for each scenario is a Jinki although what that was I didn't know, Akitsu didn't bother specifying. I guess it's some very important prize if it's being given away for such a steep cost. Akitsu wrote a little note at the end that the only thing they were able to gleam from Minaka is that the Jinki will play a crucial part in Stage Four. After committing everything written to memory via Archive, I incinerated the note and threw the ashes away during the next mission.

The one thing all three of us constantly disagreed on was the killings. Yume hated killing and would do it only if ordered to and with no other alternative. I could empathize with that, she was strong enough to not care about living enemies behind her. If they came at her again, she'd merely knock them out with a single careless blow and get on with her life.

Karasuba on the other hand, was the direct opposite and reveled in bloodshed and terror she caused. It was quite frequent to see grown, hardened soldiers to piss their pants at the sight of this grinning demon with a blood drenched blade. She was just as skilled as Yume, but unlike her leader, she used her skills in a slightly different way. For example, she never needed to clean her uniform even though she would literally be up to her knees in bodies at times. Somehow, all of her strikes landed in such a manner that blood would go everywhere but on her.

And then there was me. I tended to kill everyone who had a weapon at hand or anything that could be categorized as a weapon. I just wasn't good enough not to kill my opponents. Well, either that or each time I try to land a non-lethal blow, the training ingrained into my body by Dietrich kicks in and I find myself angling the blow just a little bit or putting a bit more strength then I intended to and suddenly, I am swimming in blood. Karasuba got quite the kick from teasing me after each mission where both she and Yume walk out as if they were attending a ball while I would walk out as if I just visited the slaughterhouse. Hell, I was even named as 'Bloody Sekirei' by Minaka just as Karasuba prophesized…it also seems like my list of titles just keeps growing.

It was a bit funny, but eventually I was being feared more than even Karasuba who still broke into giggles whenever she saw someone piss their pants from just one look at my bloodied, armor-clad form. The fact that she did though and I lived to tell the tale is just another example of my role in the group. Truth be told, I was weak compared to the duo. I still got my ass handed to me by both Karasuba, when she stops playing around, and by Yume who did it just by being Yume. No, my role in the group was the mediator, the person both Yume and Karasuba could relate to more or less. Honestly, the two were like fire and water, just plain incompatible. With me in the middle though…


	8. Gate:Normality

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Mmm...so I got a bunch of views but no actual reviews, its a bit disconcerting.

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><p>"This again…"<p>

"Shut up, and go back to sleep." Karasuba muttered as she lay by my side. Yume, who was again snuggled up to Karasuba, merely slept on. Somehow, we kept ending up in the same bed the three of us after each mission. We never did anything but sleep and somehow, as the year progressed, less and less memories of how we actually ended up together stayed alive. Yes, we managed to get Yume drunk on more than one occasion and after that it turns into one hilarious party. Being a self-proclaimed Sekirei of Love and Fate, Yume, on more than one occasion, would go after Karasuba with claims that she'd show her Love after getting drunk.

Thankfully, she never managed to get more than a kiss before falling over asleep. The first time that happened, it was me who had to put us all away as Karasuba fell into shocked stupor which eventually grew into sleep and she thought she merely had a nightmare. Until it happened again and this time she was more or less still there. She almost killed Yume right then and there but somehow Yume managed to knock her out while asleep.

Let it be forever known that I and Karasuba called her a cheat and foul player after the incident while she just took it with an embarrassed smile. Seriously, just what the hell was she if she could take on Karasuba while asleep? It was just not fair. At first Karasuba tried to avoid the grabby, kissy drunk but after being chased down five floors and finally getting kissed regardless, she just rolls with it now. I, being afraid for my skin, would forever be silent about how Karasuba actually began to enjoy said kisses when sufficiently drunk. I kind of like being alive and telling this to either one of them would be very detrimental to my continual survival.

We actually had a discussion on just how game-breaking she is and when I said that Takami told me that they kind of screwed up when they tried adjusting Sekirei 6 to 9, Karasuba agreed and told me how number 6 would occasionally morph into a male and then back again into female or how number 7 spontaneously winged herself. Only number 9 turned out somewhat okay, although psychologically she was far from normal. Somehow promoting number 8 into god-tier wasn't the worst that could've happened.

Occasionally, Takami would show up, kick the shit out of Minaka, scare the living daylights out of everyone in the building, have a sarcastic fight with Karasuba, wave at Yume and have a drink with me. It was so nice when she showed up; the whole building just came to life with terrorized employees everywhere running amok. Karasuba never said anything, but I could tell she enjoyed the atmosphere and waited patiently for Takami to show up.

Takami was rather disappointed with me joining the Disciplinary Squad and being neck deep in blood but I managed to persuade her that it was for the best. Here I'd hone my skills and have a much greater chance of surviving the game and fixing this mess. She wasn't particularly happy but agreed that this path was necessary, especially after she read the mission reports. Akitsu merely asked me if this was truly what I wanted and when I replied affirmative she left it at that.

Sometimes Akitsu came with Takami as she didn't like leaving her side for an extended period of time. When she did, it was quite fascinating what happened. Whereas Takami would sow chaos and destruction in her path, somehow getting things that were blocked done, all Akitsu had to do was stare at someone and say something in that soft voice of hers and suddenly, things got done at the speed of light. When I asked Takami privately about this, she laughed and said that five years back, she had Akitsu skewer some arrogant asshole who thought she was a mere toy for humans like him. After listening to his screams for days as the fool slowly died, the work ethic somehow increased to unimaginable heights and anything Akitsu asked was treated as a priority order on par with Minaka's.

Dietrich showed up, once. I saw him for all of five minutes before Karasuba charged in and dragged him off to the training room. What I saw there, I'd never forget. Even with my enhanced reflexes and reaction time all I saw sometimes was a mere blur. It was later, thanks to Archive that I could see the whole battle in relative slow motion. I thought I had a chance beating Dietrich with all of the training I've been doing? Nope, that isn't going to happen, not for another decade at best and then only because he'd slow down due to age. He fought Karasuba, a serious Karasuba, to a standstill. Well, it was more like she won on stamina while he won on the actual blows landed. How he managed I'd never know as at those speeds he shouldn't even be able to see her come at him. Yet every blow she swung at him was either dodged or pushed a little to the side to ensure it didn't actually hit him.

I could now see why Dietrich showed up so rarely, and it wasn't because he was busy training new weapon type Sekirei. If this is how Karasuba greeted him, and she did just this according to Yume, I am completely unsurprised that he visited rarely and never stayed. Yume told me that the one time he stayed for longer than a day, Karasuba was at his door first thing in a morning and dragged him off to a spar before the poor man had a chance to even brush his teeth. I was in much greater shock later though, when a drunken Karasuba confessed that if Dietrich was an Ashikabi she'd wing herself on him without a second thought. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Dietrich wasn't an Ashikabi and couldn't give more than the regular duels to Karasuba.

I thanked the gods that Karasuba didn't remember that talk in the morning. And that she didn't remember Yume comforting her about how the only worthy human she'd ever found wasn't even an Ashikabi. She also mentioned something about number 1 suffering from the same problem except that number 1 decided to get married and just accept that her chosen could never give her wings. The Black Sekirei was vividly against being intimate with anyone but her Ashikabi though. And Yume but that was an afterthought and I swear I must be imagining things. There's no way Karasuba would ever say that and if she did there would be no survivors who could claim to have heard this happen.

As time progressed, my alcohol tolerance increased and this combined with my body mass made sure that I was usually the last one standing after drinking the rest of my squad under the table. This also allowed me to keep some very interesting memories…

The three of us were sitting, drinking and unwinding from the latest mission. Well, at this point it was just me and Karasuba left while Yume was sound asleep at her chair, her head resting on her arms due to her low alcohol tolerance level. Regardless, the main point is where the conversation swayed…

"First Generation?" Karasuba snorted. "What a joke. I am amazed it lasted for as long as it did with the composition it had. Oh sure it seemed fine on paper, 2 long range Sekirei, 2 melee Sekirei and a support Sekirei could demolish any theoretical threat the world could toss at us."

"But the moment the fight was over, we fell apart for the stupidest reasons." Karasuba grimaced and took another shot of sake. "Kazehana, the stupid, dumb bitch with wind for brains managed to convince herself that she was reacting to Minaka of all people. She was even worse than Yume, with her speeches about love and how it could overcome anything. Hah, the joke is on her here though, as the White Clown is actually in love with Takami and he denied Kazehana her wings instantly. Next thing we know, we are now 4 as Kazehana is now wandering the world, searching for her True Ashikabi while drinking away her broken heart."

She took another sip before continuing.

"Then there was that whore Miya, but I don't even want to talk about that self-righteous bitch right now." A disgusted grimace twisted her features. "And so there we are, with three Sekirei left."

"The next to go was Mutsu, the only male Sekirei of the group. I don't know how, but the guy managed to get himself winged to a young boy of all things. Damn was I ever disappointed."

She softly laughed after a pause before cracking a soft smile.

"And then there was the little, jumpy Matsu with the cutest squeal I've ever heard." Karasuba laughed to herself again. "I might've overdone it a bit though, she fears me more than the devil itself."

She stared at her empty sake cup for a long moment before continuing, a rare touch of respect in her voice.

"Then she did something none of us expected. She stole a Jinki." Seeing the question in my eyes, Karasuba continued with a sickly smile on her face. "A Sekirei control device. There is 8 Jinki in total so with one missing it is impossible to directly control us. I am…proud of her, Rei."

The soft revelation stunned me. Karasuba, proud of someone?

"Miya may have sold us all into eternal slavery but Matsu managed to at least keep our wills somewhat intact and free. It is for this that I'll never actively hunt for her no matter how many tantrums the White Clown throws. And if I were to ever meet her on the street, face to face, I'll suddenly remember that I have something far more important to do…like tie my shoes."

Considering Karasuba wore boots that reached her thighs with no laces what so ever, I was quite impressed by how far she was willing to go for Matsu. But there was something she said that I just had to clarify, it was too important not to.

"You said Miya sold us all into slavery." I asked carefully, staring into her pale brown eyes. 'What do you mean?"

Karasuba stared at back at me for a long time, unmoving, before she finally drank her recently refilled sake cup and carelessly tossed it aside to its doom, with disgust clear on her face.

"Yes, I suppose you should know why I despise Miya." She nodded slowly to herself. "Well, let's start with the fact that she is a Sekirei Pillar. You thought Yume is strong? Miya could wipe the floor with her without even breaking her stride. She was meant to protect us, guide us…rule us."

"And then that dumb lovesick moron sold us to a fucking insane Clown for a mere human." Karasuba hunched over the table, her head clutched in her arms. "I'd understand if she did it for her Ashikabi, the bond is difficult to resist, but Takehito in a common human unable to wing her! And then, when the god damn Clown reveals his twisted plans to kill us all for fucking fun she merely shrugged and said it didn't concern her anymore, as she was a simple housewife now."

Karasuba half-laughed, half-hiccupped.

"A housewife who slaughtered more than a half of the nearly hundred thousand men strong force in the First Invasion. A simple…housewife…"

Karasuba's muttering degenerated into drunken giggling and then finally she fell asleep, leaving me alone to think on what she said. Somehow, after hearing the Black Sekirei's monologue, by opinion of the First dropped to sewer level if not lower. To think that she calmly sold her own race first to slavery and then to genocide without battering an eyelash just to get away from her duties as the Pillar…

I shook my head, in the long run, this didn't matter. I'll still use my wish to go back and fix this mess and if the First is such an uncaring bitch, then it is for the better that she doesn't rule us. With a ruler like that, we'd be all dead within the year anyway. I took a deep sigh and hauled the bodies of my friends to the bedroom, Kara and I had a mission tomorrow.

What I didn't expect, was for Karasuba to actually remember the conversation. That would be the first and only time she ever did though which made me rather impressed by the amount of hate she had for Miya.

"So, Rei." Karasuba casually sat on the couch, the only furniture not covered with blood in the room. "What do you think of Miya now that you've heard my opinion?"

We were all alone in this small research facility in Texas, USA. Minaka decided to send just the 2 of us this time and keep Yume home in case of an emergency. To be honest, at this point either I or Karasuba alone would be enough to take care of something like this. Killing the defector and all witnesses wasn't too difficult and actually made me wonder just where we were getting all of these defectors from. Did they not realize that at the end of the day, they had absolutely 0 chance of survival when we found them? Was there a point in having money when dead? So far, I've seen no money on the other side and all of the souls seem exactly the same to me.

"Do you know what my wish is, Karasuba?" I sat down on a corpse across her, uncaring of the blood. It'll wash off eventually.

"Should I?" Her voice might sound carefree, but I knew enough about her facial expressions to see a subtle change in that smile of hers.

"Ever since I left Kamikura," I started seriously, my eyes on hers. "I wished to go back to when this mess just started…and kill Minaka."

I used Karasuba's grin when I saw her eyes widen and her own smile fade away.

"Takami, Elizabeth and Dietrich would be more than enough to create a new MBI, whose only goal is to serve us, Sekirei." I finished dropping the bomb on the completely serious Black Sekirei.

It started slow at first. A twitch, a smile, a giggle and suddenly Karasuba rolled around on the couch, maniacal laughter echoing throughout the room.

"Ah, I knew there was a reason I liked you Rei." Karasuba finally drawled, wiping her tears away with her sleeves. "I like you wish, Rei, and I think I'll take it for myself; yes, these lesser creatures should live to serve us."

I wisely withheld that I wanted to guide humanity to evolution so that they could stand by our side rather than merely enslave them. Karasuba, who so far has only seen the worst humanity has to offer, wouldn't understand. She just wouldn't see their potential.

"Come, Rei." Karasuba stood up and offered me her hand. "Let's go home."


	9. Gate:Despair

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>I've seen Elizabeth briefly once and we haven't had much of a chance to do anything but wave to each other before she took off on a helicopter back to Kamikura. I was a bit sad about it, but I understood that she was needed to guide the newly born Sekirei. Speaking of which, I was part of the welcoming committee the last time and I am sure there is one due soon. Unlike me, it seems that a Sekirei batch would take about seven to eight months to complete their final adjustment. And even then, it seems like some of them are scatterbrained while the rest are just bad at blending in because they stuck out like a sore thumb whenever I was on a patrol. They were just…different from the surrounding mass of humans. Granted, we were a different race and they didn't have Archive in their head to help them adjust, but sometimes it was just ridiculous. More than once I had to step in and slaughter the random banditsmuggers/rapists that seemed to gravitate towards these young women with that wide-eyed look that just seemed to scream naïve. Sometimes I wonder if I ever looked like that, back a year ago. I hope not, but if I did, thanks to Karasuba and Minaka I don't anymore.

Whenever I was not on a mission or drinking or training, I'd go out and patrol the streets, protecting the Sekirei from the trouble they just loved attracting. I'd also frequently run into number 6, Homura, who really liked to try and turn me into toast with those powers of fire of his. However, after I stopped caring to dodge and merely patrolled in my Soul Form, Homura gave up after a lot of shouting and fist waving. I had the exact same thing happen when I met Tsukiumi, Sekirei number 9, the water user, except that she doesn't give up. Every time I appear in her line of sight I get a water cannonball sent at me. It does nothing but is amusing non-the-less.

It was also very interesting for me to gain recognition by the various Sekirei around the city. I was apparently known as the 'Bloody Sekirei' amongst my kin. There was just so many of these incidents that I stopped caring eventually and just did it as a duty, unlike Homura who genuinely believes that it's his calling to make sure the little birds only get their wings from their True Ashikabi. I also was ambushed a couple times by Sekirei led by a couple Ashikabi who thought that they owned the city. There was this guy called…Higa? Was it Higa? Who cares though? I merely turned into my Soul Form and calmly left, ignoring whatever that trash was trying to say to me.

Then there was this Mikogami kid who treated the whole thing like a game and tried to sick Mutsu, number 5 on me. I was never more thankful that my Soul Form was so untouchable then back then as I fled from the guy who used to be in the First Disciplinary Squad. I couldn't do jack to the duo in the Second and this guy used to be in the First. Hell no, I am not going anywhere near him.

Finally, there were a couple of clowns with lightning powers, numbers 11 and 12 I believe, who also tried their best to fry me. However, their Ashikabi was a rather smart fellow, even if he did look like a homeless bum. The third time they came after me; he showed up out of nowhere, canceled their attack and apologized for them bothering me. Considering that I was in Soul Form, I didn't particularly care about their attacks, but their Ashikabi drew my attention with his plea not to kill his Sekirei. After telling him I wasn't going to we all went apart on our separate ways even as I heard him yell at his Sekirei for trying to suicide by angering the 'Bloody Sekirei' aka me.

My patrols and thus the encounters I underwent were quite well received by Karasuba and Yume, with the former often laughing at my adventures while the later preferred to hand out her smiles. Truly, I was getting used to the whole situation. Train, get obliterated in a spar, go on a mission, wash my armour, get wasted, wake up on Karasuba's bed and then go on a patrol. It was nice, while it lasted. We truly were getting closer together and lately we somehow began to just fall asleep on Karasuba's bed regardless of whether we were drunk or not. I swear her bed is somehow mystically softer then both mine and Yume's, yes that must be the reason…shut up Archive.

And then…then came a mission that changed everything.

"Yume, Karasuba, Rei." Minaka got up, his clown façade completely gone for once. "You're departing to Kamikura Island, effective immediately. An assault has taken place this early morning and the assailants managed to get aboard the ship and make off with two Sekirei."

Yume covered her mouth in horror, Karasuba actually stopped grinning for once and I somehow found my hands clutching my sword hilts. Heads are going to roll for this; I'll make sure of it.

"They managed to do this because of a highly placed mole in our ID but do not worry, he's been taken care off." Minaka began pacing in front of us. "What matters is the retrieval of Sekirei temporarily designated as number 87 and number 88 who weren't meant to be woken up yet. At the moment, we have no idea of their location due to the damage done by the mole. You are to search the island and retrieve them as soon as possible, clear?"

"Yes, Professor." Yume acknowledged the orders.

"Good, god speed." And with that we were off, the pilot pushing the helicopter to give it all it's got to get there to Kamikura as fast as possible. As we flew, we read the details of the invasion via the tablets, courtesy of Minaka.

From what's known is that at 6:00 in the morning on this not-so-fine day of June 22nd, 2018 several ships approached Kamikura Island from the North. While their cruisers traded rockets and ballistics with the MBI defence fleet, nearly a thousand troops made their way onto the beach and began their assault. The MBI managed to hold the line, or so it seemed until an explosion and smoke appeared at the Sekirei ship. Knowing the enemy's true goal, MBI, led by Akitsu, managed to fight off the invasion with heavy losses and reclaim the ship. However, at that point it was too late as Takami found that two Sekirei, given the numbers 87 and 88 for now for sake of identification, were taken. As of this moment, the MBI is still stuck trying to fight past the marines who are dying but not letting up an inch of ground. Because the MBI fleet obliterated the opposition, it is believed that this operation was meant to sacrifice all of that tech and troops just to buy enough time to glean whatever they could from Sekirei they captured.

I had to give it to whoever planned this operation. They knew that no one going in would make it out and instead managed to make a plan where they'd trade all of these pawns for vital information on Sekirei. They believed it was worth it and, honestly, I agree. MBI rose from dust into the multi-billion company it is today over a couple decades and a bit of research into Sekirei. It's been two hours since the beginning of the assault and we still had another hour till we get to the island, but somehow I have doubts that the captive Sekirei will live for much longer.

Meanwhile, Yume ordered the pilot to contact the Kamikura defence force and tell them to lay back on the assault a bit. After thinking for a moment, I had to applaud Yume's decision. If Minaka had any hope on the Kamikura defence force actually driving off the invaders and getting to the Sekirei on time, he wouldn't have made such a big fuss about it when briefing us. The amount of time the captives stay alive is directly tied to the defence of the marines buying time for the scientists. If they are destroyed then the scientists would have to hurry up and at that point it would be more merciful to just kill the Sekirei when we find them.

From the distance, one couldn't see Kamikura island. All one would see would be the gigantic smoke plume that rose from all over the island, with burning machinery and bodies at land and sea. Although the occasional gigantic shard of ice added a nice touch to the scene, Akitsu must've had a field day there. The pilot dropped us off at the northern shore, flying low to avoid getting spotted. Somewhere in this area, the scientists were studying the captive Sekirei as just a couple kilometers further invading marines were dying by the dozen to buy time.

We decided to split up and search, as time was of the essence and we all believed that even a single one of us would be more than enough for the scientist scum and what little guard they had. I took the west, Karasuba went east and Yume advanced south, towards the marines. I didn't find anything but a passing squad of marines patrolling the area. After slaughtering the majority of them and making sure the officer wasn't going anywhere – hard to without legs – I began questioning them on the location of the scientists. Just my luck though, the most they knew was that the science team was separate from everyone else. With a disappointed sigh I ended their pain via dismemberment and continued on my way.

Eventually, I hit the end of the territory and hurried back, not caring about stealth anymore. At this point, Karasuba and Yume must be done with their search and either one of them must've found something. Surprisingly, I found Karasuba searching the middle area herself, with Yume nowhere in sight. Apparently, Karasuba's search yielded nothing so we both quickly searched the area and soon found a small tent town hidden amongst the rocks and sand. Strewn all around were bodies of marines and scientists alike as Yume, in her usual fashion, merely knocked all of the annoyances aside before carrying on.

We hurried in, Karasuba even decided against finishing off anyone we saw in her hurry to find Yume and I also had a weird feeling whenever I thought of her.

"…Am I dreaming?" Karasuba leaned against the pillar supporting the large tent. "Yume…"

I rushed forward and dropped by Yume who sat, hunched over a child Sekirei, in a huge pool of blood. Another child was sniffling at the side but I paid her no attention as I turned over Yume and felt my heart shudder to a near stop. At the center of her chest, what humans call the solar plexus a hole could be seen and what was far worse, was the fact that I couldn't see her Tama there. To us, the Sekirei, our Tama is our core, our soul. Without a Tama, we cannot function and we cannot exist. To see Yuma, my leader and someone I respected like an elder sister completely and utterly dead…

"What. Happened. Here." Karasuba grabbed the sniffling kid and shook her violently to make her stop crying. "Tell me now."

The child sniffled and cried but in the end we got the story. Apparently, Yume was slightly too late and found the scientists cutting up the other child there and in the process damaged her Tama. Yume, after demolishing everyone in the area, decided, in her usual display of heroism, to revive the dying child. Except that in order to do so, she had to cut out her own Tama and fuse it with the broken one to revive the child. Which she proceeded to do without battering an eyelash and before she died she made the two kids swear to her that they'd fight to be the final ones and then use their wish to free all Sekirei with broken wings, whatever that meant.

At this point I couldn't hold it in anymore and lost in hysterical laughter. Only Yume would ever do something like this all in return for making a couple kids swear oaths they haven't yet understood. Karasuba on the other hand just sat there, the kid long since making her escape from the steely arms suddenly gone limp. After finishing my laugher and pulling myself together I made it over to Karasuba and hugged her. She on the other hand began shaking before suddenly breaking out in hysterics of her own. I merely held her as she gabbled on about how now she'll never defeat the 'foul player' and how Yume got the final laugh.

Eventually she stopped and we just sat there, drawing comfort from each other.

"Rei…" Karasuba finally said, a twitch signaling the failed attempt at her smirk. "Didn't know you were into girls like Yume."

I merely smiled and held her tighter to my armoured chest. We both needed this right now, to know that we were still here for each other even with this loss shaking our tightly knitted squad violently.

"You know, this would be so much better if your armour wasn't so hard." Karasuba made another quip in an attempt to pull herself together into the usual sarcastic self.

"I am still here." I muttered gently to both myself and the woman in my grasp. "And so are you."

"And so is Yume…to a degree." Both of us turned to look at the sleeping child to whom Yume gave her core to. The Black Sekirei was quite right, to a Sekirei their Tama came first and foremost. I've heard it was possible for a Sekirei to get a new body just so long as their Tama is intact, which meant that Yume was currently somewhere in that child's body and gods know what will happen as a result of two Tama's mixing.

"Come on, we need to finish this." I stood up and pulled Karasuba with me and suddenly we stood there, face to face, both of us tired warriors who just lost a leader, a friend, and –perhaps – something more. "We must keep moving forward."

"Yea, you're right." Karasuba stepped out of my loose embrace and went over to pick up her sword which she dropped by the tent 'door' or the piece of cloth that passed for it. I meanwhile, picked up Yume's body carefully and held her close my chest, the smaller woman passing for a small girl in my arms. Karasuba in turn flipped the injured child over her shoulder and grabbed the other kid by the wrist and pulled her up. As we passed by a knocked out scientist by the door, Karasuba took twisted joy in stomping on his head, hard, and scattering his brains all over the floor.

"Stop it Kara." I called over. "Don't give them a quick, painless death. These fuckers need to get tortured for what they've done. For what they made Yume do."

Karasuba paused in mid-stomp and then glanced at me weirdly. I am not sure what caused this to happen more, the fact that I just shortened her name which she didn't let anyone do or the fact that she agreed with my words on the torture part.

"You're right, these bastards need to burn for what they've done." Karasuba instead chose to step on the man's privates, grinding those to dust with a sadistic grin. The poor man whimpered even while in deep knockout. And so we walked out onto the beach where we sat side by side, just staring at the water, Yume's body on our knees and the brats safely sleeping/knocked out behind us.

"Feels like this is just a nightmare…a bad dream that is about to end and we'll wake up to find Yume curled up behind you as always." I said softly as I brushed Yume's soft brown hair. The fact that my words were punctured by a particularly loud explosion and the constant streams of gunfire in the background merely added to the unrealism of what was happening. When I joined the Disciplinary Squad and first sparred with Yume I realized, deep down, that if anyone was to win this sick game, it would be Yume. It would be preferable if she won in fact, for there is no possible way for her wish to be bad. If it was, it wouldn't be Yume. The fact that she was a tier of her own, a cheat and a 'foul player' as Kara called her merely added to the notion that she'd outlast all of us.

And yet…here we sat, me and Kara, side by side with Yume's body laid out on our laps. The shock of seeing our seemingly undefeatable leader dead was…incomprehensible. I think we still half believed that she'd just sit up and yawn and say she enjoyed her nap any moment now. But she didn't, she merely laid there, an abandoned shell of the woman who we came to respect and love.

And so we sat, watching as a helicopter flew towards us, even as the sounds of the battle behind us died down. Watched as it grew closer and we waited that this would all turn out to be a farce, a terrible nightmare. Watched as it landed and Takami stepped out, her face turning white at the picture. Behind her swayed Akitsu, even tired and battered as she was, she wouldn't leave Takami's side. Watched as they came near and knelt beside Yume's body and suddenly, at that moment, we knew this was real. Yume's death wasn't some dream from which we would wake and find her snoring gently, curled up in a ball with her nose stuck into Kara's back.

For the first time in my life, my vision swam and suddenly I found salty drops drip down my face which Archive solemnly called tears. And for the first time in my life, I found myself in Kara's arms as she comforted me.


	10. Gate:Kara

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

To chiriruoni: Thank you for the review. I must say this however: The canon is still going to be present. After all, the canon is the adventures of Sahashi Minato, are they not? This story is about Rei, but considering they are both in same game/city, Rei's decisions/actions will change the canon - occasionally drastically and the further the story goes the more - but at the same time canon has a major presence just because many decisions/events that occur in the canon cannot be changed by Rei. It's a bit difficult changing something one has no control over or doesn't even know of it's existence.

Yume's death is a prime example of this, it's canon, but at the same time, Rei could do absolutely nothing to stop it and she wasn't even aware of the possibility of this occurring.

Concerning power levels (9000/etc), Rei will be powerful. She also worked her ass off to get to that stage and there will be no random powerups from gods know where in this story. Also, unlike the original Sekirei where the Sekirei had their actual power dampened, in this story only the growth is dampened meaning that Sekirei who bothered to train and evolve their power are literally god-like beings. But Rei is by no means the strongest kid in the sandbox. I mean, not only is there always Miya (challenging a goddess = death 100% guarantee) but theres plenty of Sekirei who have been out there for longer than Rei has and thus had more time to train, experiment, evolve their powers.

Mmm, I think I am rambling (?) now so on with the story instead.

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><p>Turns out fate wasn't satisfied with the beat down in delivered that day. Oh sure, MBI suffered horrible losses - nearly 90% of all forces stationed on Kamikura Island in fact -, the Kamikura town was practically razed to the ground, 87 and 88 nearly died while Yume actually died. No, the real kicker came in now as Kara and I stood by a coffin half closed. It was actually a foolish notion, as there was literally nothing beneath the closed part. For the second time today, I held Kara in my arms, offering her comfort, as she stared at the calm face of the man lying in the coffin. Dietrich Sweinog happened to be inside the ship at the time of the attack and he was found there, or what was left of him surrounded by nearly a hundred corpses. Takami theorized, in a quiet voice, that the only reason they got him at all was because someone fired a rocket without caring about friendly fire. They killed him and a dozen of their own soldiers with that rocket. He died like a true warrior, surrounded by corpses of his enemies and his swords in his hands. Even now, in death, he clutched them, unwilling to let go, and it was in this state that he was going to be laid to rest.<p>

To me Dietrich was a father figure, the man poured his soul in teaching me as much as he possibly could and his death was…excruciating. To Kara on the other hand, as much as she'd try to deny it, Dietrich was her Ashikabi in all but fact. How she cursed fate on that drunken night a month ago that the only human she found worthy was not an Ashikabi. His death, along with Yume, practically shattered her. In one day, she lost two pillars that supported her world. It was in this moment that I decided to fuck the True Ashikabi and the rest of this bullshit. I'll stick with Kara regardless of whom she picks just so I could be there, for her.

After Dietrich's funeral, Kara and I went over to oversee Yume get put into her Stasis Capsule, the place where she'd lie till the end of the Sekirei Plan. The vast room had exactly 100 and 8 capsules, one for each Sekirei on the ship. It was also completely empty, as no Sekirei has been deactivated or killed up to this moment.

It was…ironic that the first Sekirei to fall would be the one who had all the chances to win and to free us all. As Kara and I watched, we didn't just bury our closest friend. We also buried the greatest hope out kind had whether they understood it or not.

The month that followed the assault was hectic to say the least. Minaka was practically foaming at the mouth with his obsession to hunt down every single person responsible for the attack and kill them all. Kara and I were only too happy to go after them. From Hong Kong, China to Houston, USA to Vladivostok, Russia to Berlin, Germany. Each visit yielded dozens of corpses and a little measure of closure to both Kara and I. It felt good to listen to their terrified screams and begs for mercy as I or Kara sliced them to tiny pieces, slowly letting out our pain for Yume's death with each stroke.

Every night we crashed, tired, and fell asleep instantly in each other's arms; the exhaustion and the warmth of our embrace warding the nightmares away. Eventually though, we finally came to terms with Yume's death and by the final mission of this gigantic chain, we merely slaughtered everyone and left, not bothering to torture the mastermind of the invasion. We just took his head for Minaka and left.

The results of this month long witch hunt were that both Kara and I became very widely known in certain circles and interest groups. Kara gained the nickname MBI's hound and I got called the MBI boogeyman. I must admit, the first time Minaka told us about this with a serious face, both of us just lost it and laughed ourselves to tears. Still smiling, we made it to our floor and then stared at the door, our good mood evaporating faster than a snowball in the middle of a nuclear explosion.

We glanced at each other and then Kara opened the door and we walked in. The floor was exactly as we left it, in a slight state of perpetual chaos, with a thin layer of dust everywhere. Any human who found themselves on this floor was liable to end up in the Morgue, courtesy of Kara. This meant that we had to clean up after ourselves, but at least we knew exactly where everything was.

Somehow, we ended up gravitating towards the door to Yume's room. Instead of names, our doors were engraved with colored pictures. Mine was a pale blue flame burning calmly from a white orb. Kara's was a black sword on a red field. Yume's was the Sekirei symbol inside of a yellow sun. Gently, we pushed the door open and walked into the room that was bathed by the final rays of the dying star.

The room was fairly empty for something so big. A bed, a desk with a laptop and a chair, a meditation mat by the window that was actually the wall. And a bookcase full of books and disks, every single one of them a romance of some kind. From classics like Romeo and Juliet and Titanic to modern day trash that I didn't bother reading or watching, no matter how much Yume coerced me to.

It was…empty. Of course, it was empty as we knew Yume was gone but…it was the sight of her empty room to which she'd never come back that put the final period.

Yume was not coming back.

That night, the two of us got wasted as usual, but the change didn't come up until morning…

"…This is new."

"Shut up and go to sleep." Kara tightened her grip around my naked body and sighed contently as she rested her head on my modest chest. "Wait…"

""Do you remember what happened last night?" I asked, with my right hand still stuck between her thighs.

"Nope." Kara opened one eye, surveyed the situation and closed it back. "Was bound to happen sooner or later anyway."

I nodded slowly, relieved that she wasn't mad about the situation and decided to make the best of it by hugging the Sekirei lying by my side with my left arm. Kara merely hummed appreciatively.

Throughout the day, I'd get very distracting flashes of the previous night as my memory began to come back…

"…Not Yume." Drunken Kara pulls back from a surprise kiss with a disappointed sigh.

"I am not Yume." I answer, feeling strange from her actions. "I am Rei."

And then Kara's beautiful pale brown eyes, wide in surprise, drew very close and suddenly…

"Stay." Kara grabs my arms as I deposited her gently on her bed. I staggered in surprise; I thought she has passed out.

"Forever and ever." Something from deep inside of me spoke out and suddenly I was kissing the Black Sekirei once more…

And the scenes after that drove all of my blood straight to my head, neck and ears, giving me genuine worry that I might pass out. Later in the evening I sat down with Kara and told her everything I remembered, including the scenes that made my blood boil.

"Did you mean it?" Kara asked me after a long silence, her face uncharacteristically serious and something lurking in her eyes. "That you'd stay with me forever, and not even Ashikabi can separate us?"

"Yes." I said resolutely. "I'll just take whatever Ashikabi you react to."

Kara's face with strangely glittering eyes suddenly took up my entire view.

"…"

"Shut up and go to sleep."

I didn't even get a chance to say anything so I hugger the naked, warm body that lay beside me closer and closed my eyes, a happy smile on my lips.

The next time I woke up it was with a solution how to save Archive. The solution was so simple that I the only reason I didn't bash my head against the wall in frustration was because that'd wake Kara. Each time Archive showed or taught me something, he didn't actually teach or show me that thing. Instead he merely integrates a part of himself concerning that particular knowledge into my mind, giving me complete access of everything he has. The solution was to reject this transfer and instead learn it on my own.

Trouble was, by this point, Archive claimed that I absorbed more than 85 percent of him. Currently he is but a fragment of himself, hibernating more often than not, but at least he is still here with me. He also commented that because he was meant for a male Sekirei, all of the information he integrated into me were tainted by a male's perspective and view. By absorbing parts of him, several of my views were tweaked or changed, although which ones and how he cannot say.

Honestly, I don't give a damn. As far as I am concerned, nothing changed in me and whatever did change, I am not missing. All I cared about at that point was the fact that he was going to be around for ever now. He might not be awake for most of that forever but that's beside the point.

The one thing I did have to make sure though before our relation was settled in stone was if she was fine with me using a nickname for her.

"So long as you don't call me Ka-chan, I don't care." Kara shrugged as we walked out of a burning complex, mutilated bodies littering our path.

"Oh…and you don't want to know how I came up with that nickname?" I asked, somewhat disappointed that the arguments and conversation variations I went over in my head somehow never accounted for her just plain not caring.

"The fact is," Kara paused to nudge a body she thought she saw twitch. "If it was anyone else, it wouldn't matter what they'd call me. If it was anything less than Karasuba then I'd kill them and forget they ever existed."

I just nodded. That explanation fit Kara 100%.

"That being said, you now have my interest." She said after stabbing the body just to make sure. "Why do you call me Kara?"

"I happen to know a bit about Russian, oddly enough." I said with a shrug as we walked towards the MBI helicopter. "Kara means punishment or retribution. Somehow it just seems to fit."

"Hmm, Kara…" She let the word roll around her tongue for a bit. "I like it."


	11. Gate:Timeout

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>Not much changed, oddly enough when Kara and I became a couple. We still spent pretty much every single moment of our time together. We just took a more…romantic route with the time we had. Oh sure, Minaka made a fuss over the situation until Kara told him to stuff it - in much harsher terms, I think she may have even drawn a blade on him, she certainly seemed smug enough about it when she came back. Takami made an equally great fuss over the whole thing and this time it was my turn to tell her to stuff it and leave my private life to me. I don't care that this wasn't right or that Kara was a monster. Hell, I was hardly any different from her at this point after everything that has happened. In the end though, she backed off and invited me to go a club for drinks in the city. Akitsu, who came with Takami, stared at Kara and then asked if she was fine with having me as her partner. After receiving a grin and a yes she merely nodded and asked her to take care of me. I was a bit humbled by her reaction to be honest. She also decided against going with us due to her severe dislike of alcohol. Something about making her excessively hot which made a lot of sense to those who knew that she had troubles with even modest temperatures.<p>

"Takami?" An elegantly dressed man came to our table who I assumed to be a waiter. "Did something happen?"

"Bring drinks first Kagari." She growled back. "I feel the need to drink a lot right now."

The man nodded and returned a minute later with a couple big bottles of scotch and took a seat by Takami, earning a raised eyebrow from me. Apparently, Takami got us into a host club, a place where lonely women could complain about their life and be comforted by a host, who tended to be young men with golden patience and the knowledge of what to say and when. I glanced from Takami to Kagari and back again before a sly grin snaked along my lips.

"Now I know why you aren't married Takami." I drawled, attracting their attention. "Japan's laws prohibit polygamy marriages, right?"

My grin widened to near Kara lengths as both of their faces grew red and Kagari started sputtering about how he and Takami weren't like that. At which point Takami glanced at me before an evil smile claimed her lips and she claimed that if she was actually interested, not only would she get the poor guy, she'd also ensure that she'd be the only one to do so. At this point Kagari's shade of red peaked record high as we laughed at his plight.

"My, my, if it isn't Takami and our resident Sekirei Batman." A lustrous woman's voice originated from behind me and suddenly a very…voluminous woman in a tight Chinese dress that struggled to contain her assets plopped down on the last open chair and grabbed a bottle. "Scotch? I guess it'll do."

"Kazehana…" Takami spoke her name with an odd quirk in her voice. "I thought you were still traveling."

"I am." The woman nodded sagely as she poured herself a full glass. "Going to stop by Miya and Takehito's place for the night and then I am off to Australia tomorrow morning. I heard the surfers there are quite hot."

"So you are here to steal our drinks…again." Kagari watched as she poured herself a second glass.

"Yep!" The wind Sekirei downed another glass. "So, what's the party about?"

"Takami has been complaining that this Sekirei here decided to abandon her search for an Ashikabi and is instead romantically involved with another female Sekirei." Kagari summed up about 15 minutes of Takami's whining into a single sentence.

"Ooh! Forbidden love!" Kazehana squealed in delight. "Two hearts, reaching for each other, abandoning bodies and society to be together!"

"Do you happen to know Yume?" I asked, seeing an odd familiarity. Albeit Yume was a little bit tamer with hers I think…

"You bet!" Kazehana began to pour a third glass. "How is my old student anyway?"

"Dead." I said heavily, causing Kazehana to drop the glass she was about to drink in shock.

"W-what?" She stuttered going pale. "Is the game already starting?"

"No, not for another year at least." Takami said resolutely. "Although I am pushing Minaka to postpone for another couple years on top of that to let 107 and 108, who we just put into the growth tank two months ago, to grow. But the sick bastard is completely fine with having them in game as children.

"T-then how?" Kazehana's hand shook as she reached for the bottle, her hands tapping out a tune on the glass surface. Kagari also leaned in, obviously eager to learn the details about the demise of the leader of the Second Generation Disciplinary Squad.

"About a month ago, Kamikura Island was attacked." I slowly began to tell the tale, after a brief glance at Takami who responded with a nod. "Although nothing of the First Invasion scale, the Island was still assaulted by a small fleet and over a thousand marines who immediately attacked the MBI Camp. MBI managed to defend themselves but the real goal of the marines was to merely buy time while the scientists that came with them stole a couple child Sekirei and proceeded to…research them."

The audience wasn't fooled by the term I used. Kazehana's eyes narrowed and she lost the carefree look while Kagari grinded his teeth.

"Minaka decided to send the Disciplinary Squad to recover the stolen Sekirei." I continued in a monotone voice. "During the search, it was Yume who found the camp and then decided to sacrifice herself for the young bird that had her Tama damaged by the experiments she underwent."

"What happened then?" Kazehana asked after I fell silent.

"Then? Then she died and the little bird she died for recovered." I finished, not particularly eager on remembering the story. "And we found her cooling corpse as she sat there, still hunched over protectively over the child she saved."

"Wait, you were there?" Kagari suddenly interrupted, his eyes roving all over me as if he was trying to remember where he has seen me before, perhaps my mask did a better job at obscuring my face then I though.

"But of course, Homura." I drawled his surprise and worry feeding my sick joy. "I am part of the Disciplinary Squad after all."

"The Bloody Sekirei?" The newly identified Homura stood up suddenly into a tense stance. "You brought this thing here, Takami!? Are you mad?"

"Shut up." Takami said with a pacifistic air about her. "Don't talk shit about Rei."

"The MBI's Boogeyman." Kazehana muttered softly as she stared at me. "Somehow I thought you'd be a guy."

I couldn't help but snicker at the title which earned me a couple of surprised glances and an understanding one from Takami.

"I still prefer the title Spirit Walker if anyone cares." I offered my two cents into the conversation.

"Regardless!" Homura paced before us, his eyes not leaving my relaxed form. "I've seen you kill people by dozens at a time!"

"I don't recognise trash as people." I raised an eyebrow at Homura's statement. "It seems like I am unwelcome here."

"Wait…" Kazehana leaned in, an odd spark in her eyes. "Who is this Sekirei that attracted you so? It can't be…"

"Rei and Karasuba are a couple." Takami said melancholically before downing a cup of scotch in a single go.

"What." Homura stopped pacing and stared at Takami blankly even as Kazehana squealed excitedly.

"How did this happen? When?"

"After we buried Yume and Dietrich, the closest person to an Ashikabi Kara ever had." I answered, Kazehana's interest forcing me to recall bad memories.

"W-what!?" Kazehana's eyes bulged. "Lord Dietrich is dead?!"

"I'll be seeing you, Takami." I suddenly stood up and walked straight through the wall after using Soul Form in my haste to leave this company.

Gods! I don't know how Yume managed to turn out halfway decent with someone like Kazehana as her teacher. As I walked down the dark streets, I got pulled out of praising the Gods for Yume's decent – comparatively - behaviour by a pained shriek down a dark alley to my left. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. Knowing my luck that was a Sekirei getting into trouble.

Turning sharply, I made down the alley to see a young woman on the ground, clutching at her face with her hands while some punk stood before her, his hands fumbling with his pants. Sighing in frustration I walked towards the bastard, my right hand on my sword hilt.

"Oi, piss off before you get some too." The punk said, not even bothering to turn around.

"Hey, are you deaf or-" He finally turned around, a large knife in his right hand only to see me walk by, sheathing my blade.

"Are you alright?" I knelt before the young girl, noticing a giant hammer lying a short distance away. Definitely a Sekirei then. The girl shook her head and suddenly jumped me, hiding her face on my armoured chest as she sobbed her stressful fear away. Behind us the punk coughed and then fell to the ground in pieces with a disgusting wet slapping sound.

I froze, unsure of what to do. This is the first time a Sekirei I saved acted in such a way. I gently wrapped my arms around her and stilled at the strange feeling I received from the gesture. Up to now, the only Sekirei I was hugged by were Yume, Akitsu and Kara.

Yume's embrace was warm, like a gentle sun on a nice day. Archive frequently likened her to a loving elder sister. Akitsu's was like a gentle coolness of an autumn day that seemed to just soothe and relax the one receiving it. Kara's embrace on the other hand was both possessive and protective, as if by hugging me she showed the world that I belonged to her and everyone else can go fuck themselves. Even at her weakest, Kara's embrace stayed the same. This girl on the other hand sought solace and protection from the cruel world in my arms.

I took a deep breath and waited for the little bird to calm down.

It took a while but finally she stopped crying and instead began to thank me profusely. I merely held her till she finally quieted down.

"What now?" She asked, her eyes turned downward.

"Why didn't you kill him or run off?" I asked the question that has been bothering me. Judging by the size of the hammer, the Sekirei in question was more than strong enough to kill him and had enough endurance to outrun him if she could carry that abomination around.

"He…he was an Ashikabi." The little bird whispered. "I couldn't do anything when he came close, I…I…the heat, the feeling, it was too much."

"Huh, so that trash was actually an Ashikabi." I glanced behind me at the sliced corpse. "Pathetic."

"And you." I turned to the girl who cringed a bit. "You need to run as fast as you can next time you even begin having the same feelings."

"B-but…"

"If you feel that the Ashikabi in question is your True Ashikabi," I smirked. "Then stalk them. See what they are like, if they are worthy of you. If the answer is a negative, then abandon them and continue your search as they obviously weren't _your_ Ashikabi."

"I…" The girl gently unwound herself from me and rose up, only to bow deeply. "Thank you, I will do as you say."

"Hmm." I smirked, some human was in for a surprise. "Good luck, little bird."

"Thank you." She finally lifted her face and smiled at me her gray eyes shining with new found determination. "Umm…who are you?"

"I am known as number 51, Rei." I stood up to see the girl's eyes grow huge.

"T-the Bloody Sekirei!" She suddenly bowed again. "I am honored!"

"Tch." I reached over and ruffled her soft brown hair. "Go already, and don't get into more trouble."

She nodded and jumped off, heading for the roof. I, on the other hand, decided to go out on the streets and take the long way home. Never know just what one might stumble on through these darkened streets, hmm?

I stared at the scene in front of me and was debating on slamming my head against the wall for my stupidity. Of course I would tempt fate with my earlier thoughts, right? Although, I must admit, this was a first for me. I've ran into plenty of situations where the Sekirei gets ambushed/mugged/assaulted/etc but this is the first time where someone decides to use a Sekirei to assault someone instead. For me anyway. And it might turn out to be the last time for a certain black haired bastard standing in front of me with a superior smirk, with a Sekirei standing by his side holding a claymore in her hands.

I wondered how she carried around the thing; it was more than 1.5 times her size. It also looked very weird on a Sekirei dressed as a schoolgirl. Did her Ashikabi make her wear this?

"You want me," I pointed at myself just to make sure. "To give you all of my money?"

"What, are you deaf you dumbass?" The guy sneered, his face just begging for some corrective work via my fist. "Maybe I should order Mai here to fix that for you, maybe with that head of yours too."

"Hmm…" I hummed as I surveyed the trash. "I did just kill 1 punk, maybe it's my fate tonight to kill more?"

"W-what was that?" The guy twitched at my calm tone and leaned forward aggressively. "I think it's time for you to learn some manners! Mai!"

"Very well…" Mai sighed dejectedly as she charged me, claymore posed to cleave me in 2. I was going to just gate into Soul Form and walk away but then I figured why not? I've never actually fought a Sekirei aside from Kara and Yume and those are just practise duels…very serious and deadly practise duels. I was quite surprised by the force of her blow when I blocked her claymore with my right sword, my left dashing forward towards her unprotected chest. I almost couldn't block it and that's with my superior strength.

Mai leaned back, avoiding my blade easily and quickly spun around, her claymore crashing down on me again. This time I decided to dash backwards instead and looked at my opponent apprehensively. Mai twirled her gigantic blade at me once more, seemingly uncaring for the stress her body must be feeling from lugging that chunk of metal around. If anything, I'd guess what ever her power is it's negating the effects. Any Sekirei can technically wield that sword of hers but very few have the strength or power to do it with any degree of viability.

"I am impressed." I admitted after 5 minutes of being chased around by Mai, occasionally reverting the roles when I decided to go on offensive. "You are pretty good Mai."

"What the fuck are you?" Her Ashikabi paled progressively over the fight, apparently not used to the fact that there was something that Mai couldn't defeat.

"Number 51, Rei of the Disciplinary Squad." I answered easily and then knocked the blade out of Mai's hands, the shock of who she was fighting causing her to weaken her grip. "Ah…it's over already?"

"M-mai!" The punk's eyes widened in horror at the sight of his Sekirei with my blades at her throat in a scissors manner.

"Mmm, I wonder if I should perhaps do exactly what you wanted your Sekirei to do with me?" I mused in a carefree voice, my eyes on the shaking Ashikabi. I wonder if you are redeemable? Can you become worthy of my kin?

"W-wait!" The guy dashed forward and grabbed my blades pushing them away from his Sekirei. I was surprised enough to let him do it. Meanwhile he posed himself in front of his shocked Sekirei, his bloody hands spread wide to cover her. "Please don't! If you must, hit me, Mai only followed my orders!"

"…Idiot." I sheathed my swords with a sigh. "If I kill you, your Sekirei will die with you."

"H-huh!?" The moron in question turned to stare at his Sekirei. "I-is this true Mai?"

"I'd suggest you look into your situation first, fool." I tossed some advice at him as I walked off, not bothering to even look at my opponents. "It'll save your life and the life of your girl in the future."

What a disappointing end to a promising night.


	12. Gate:Jinki

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>Kara and I were walking in a part of Shinto Teito, just relaxing in the evening sun on a holiday from missions. Lately, the amount of missions we got increased so much that rarely did a week pass by without at least one. Considering that a mission on average took between 1 to 3 days and we demanded a day's worth of rest after each one, our timeline was rather busy. So one would understand our severe irritation when suddenly both Kara's and my phones began to ring. Only Minaka ever did that.<p>

"What?" Kara asked with an irate tone after flipping open her phone. "This better be something damn important for you to interrupt our day off."

"But of-" The White Clown began his usual grand entrance before he was interrupted by an angry Takami.

"Shut up you Clown and let me do the talking." At this point we noticed something was odd. They weren't moving. The picture was being taken by the ceiling camera so we saw Minaka and Takami stand still with 5 kids of varying ages around them.

"I need you to get Takehito here, this stupid moron right here just messed around with a Jinki and it paralyzed us." Takami stated as she glared at Minaka who would've ran off squealing like a little girl if he could as much as twitch. "Takehito is one of very few who understands this thing and how it works and he is the only one in the city at the moment."

"Oh?" Kara smirked, amused at their troubles. "Didn't he retire to live with Miya who threatened to kill any MBI employees who step foot in her house?"

"Yes, but we need an expert here right now." Takami insisted. "I don't know what this retard did and he might've set off the ship's self-destruct sequence for all we know. That is why we need a Jinki expert and Takehito is the only one in Shinto Teito right now."

"Very well, we are on our way." I answered for both of us and we began to make our way to the Izumo Inn that Takehito and Miya Asama owned.

* * *

><p>"Does she always greet her guests like so?" I asked Takehito who turned out to be a handsome man in his prime wearing a traditional style kimono.<p>

"Karasuba mostly." He answered in a pleasant baritone as we watched Miya - a purple haired woman in a miko's outfit - and Kara argue, Miya violently and Kara sarcastically.

"Well, while Kara does her part," I turned to my target. "I think I shall do mine and take you away."

"What does Minaka want me for?" He asked after glancing at the haori I draped over my shoulders like a cape.

"According to Takami," I said coming closer and beginning to plan where to grab him and how to transport him." He was screwing around with a Jinki and did something that made them all paralyzed."

"Of course he would." He sighed and then quickly said before I grabbed him. "Not over the shoulder!"

I merely shrugged and took off, carrying him like a princess. While in transit, he contacted Takami and began to troubleshoot the situation, his face getting paler by the minute.

"He activated some sort of self-destruct system didn't he?" I groaned.

"Worse, he somehow triggered an area-of-effect deactivation protocol which would deactivate – kill basically – all Sekirei and Ashikabi in the immediate area." Takehito answered while at the same time face palming. "How did he even do that, I thought it took all 8 Jinki for that feature to even become available."

"You can fix this, right?" I glanced at him even as the MBI tower grew closer.

"Thankfully, a single Jinki doesn't have the power required to do more than kill everything in a short radius and this is after a significant delay to accumulate enough energy." Takehito explained as we began to jump up the tower, MBI had a series of ledges installed for Disciplinary Squad to come and go to their level quickly.

"As of now it's still powering up and depending on how much time we have I'll implement a solution."

"What if I were to send it to the Spirit Realm?" I offered as we reached the Disciplinary Squad level. "As far as we've experimented, nothing can get through the barrier between Living and Spirit Realms but me."

"You can do what?" Takehito stared at me in wonder as we entered the elevator which sped us up to the final floor.

"This is definitely a possibility." Takehito said as he ran his arm through me in a vain attempt to grab something while I was in Spirit Form. "Yes, let me tinker with it and then you can take it to this Spirit Realm as a precaution."

And just like that we burst into Minaka's office, everything still exactly as when the White Clown called Kara and me. We have Minaka in his usual pose, with a hand outstretched holding a crystal of some sort. Then we have Takami, frozen in mid-swing, her tablet en route to Minaka's face. And finally, we have 5 kids of various ages standing in a loose circle around the two of them.

Takehito wasted no time in snatching the crystal from Minaka and began to tap it in an order known only to him. Occasionally he'd twist and the crystal would shift to a different edge alignment with a unique series of clicks. As I watched, still in Soul Form, somehow he understood those clicks and his face grew grimmer.

"Hey Takami, where's Akitsu?" I asked, stopping before Takami and eyeing her posture with a light grin.

"I got her to stay behind and supervise the final preparations for departure of latest batch." Takami replied. "Thank the gods too; I'd rather not have her here if things are as serious as Takehito states."

"Rei." He called over. "I don't have time for anything but an alignment switch. When this thing goes off it will now instead strike out at anything non-Sekirei or Ashikabi, like myself."

I nodded and drew a small circle around the Jinki. I found that some of my abilities gained an alternate effect when used while in Spirit Realm as opposed to Living Realm. For instance, Gate:Swap swapped only a single object it actually touched rather than an area. The time the object stays in the Spirit Realm increases dramatically however. After taking it to the other side I quickly jumped back into the Living Realm, just in time to see the crystal pulse and give off a shaky muted blast of red energy.

The best way I could find to describe Gate:Swap was that if one was to in visualize the 2 realms as layer of water and oil, they'd separate out and never mix if undisturbed. What Gate:Swap did was grab a bubble of say oil – Living Realm - and hold it in water – Spirit Realm – until the ability has no more power to hold the bubble in place at which point it gets pushed out, back into its usual state. It was a little strange how going from Living Realm to Spirit Realm grabbed a big bubble which drained the energy the ability had much faster than the significantly smaller bubble – just enough for 1 comparatively small object – I could grab from Living Realm to Spirit Realm while I was in Spirit Realm. The closest explanation I could find was that when I went from Living Realm to Spirit Realm with Gate:Swap, I myself tore a much larger opening in the border between the realms which resulted in a lot more things getting sucked up as a result. While in Spirit Form the gate I opened was significantly smaller as it didn't have to account for me to get through – just whatever I was trying to drag in.

"Huh." I stared at the ghostly, see-through crystal that hanged in midair, exactly in the position it used to hold when I was still there, in Soul Form. "I didn't know I could do that."

"Excellent job, Takehito and Rei!" Minaka bounced around, finally free of the paralysis. His joy didn't last long though, as Takami unfroze next.

Somehow, Takehito and I turned into a wall behind which the kids cowered as they saw Takami beat Minaka into a bloody pulp screaming something about this being the reason why she had white hair.

"Hey Takami." Takehito watched with amusement as his onetime boss turned into a giant tenderized Meat Popsicle. "What was he trying to do with the Jinki anyway?"

"This-fucking-moron," Each word was punctuated with a Minaka scream before she finally had enough and stopped, just an inch short of actually killing the fool. "Tried to accelerate the growth of these Sekirei with a Jinki to start the Sekirei Plan early because he was god damn bored."

"Somehow, I am disappointed you beat this Clown to an inch of his life." I deadpanned as everyone stared at me incredulously. "This now prevents me from adding my share."

"So what are you going to do now with the kids?" Takehito asked Takami after we all finished laughing.

"What else is there to do?" Takami lit a cigarette. "106, 107 and 108 will go back into growth tubes; they are just far too young still. 104 and 105 on the other hand…"

She took a deep breath and stared hard at the oldest of the brats. I followed her gaze to find a pink haired girl with an odd flame in her dark red eyes and a gray haired girl who was currently poking the twitching remnants of Minaka.

"They haven't undergone Initiation yet but Minaka wants to groom them into a replacement for Yume." Takami finally stated, her cigarette nearly done.

"He realizes it's not possible, right?" This time, I truly deadpanned. "Yume was literally one of a kind cheat. No normally adjusted Sekirei could ever even hope to match her."

"Hey!" The pink haired girl stood up straighter and glared at me. "I don't know about her, but I am no weakling!"

"Oh?" I tilt my head a little to the right, staring at the girl with a smouldering flame in her eyes.

"Yes, we are not weak." The gray haired girl stood up slowly and turned to face me, her hair covering one of her eyes.

"But you are not Yume." I stated clearly, could they not understand this simple truth?

"We can be better!" The pink haired one said passionately.

This…this...

"Umm…" Takehito coughed into his hand as they all watched me fall to the floor in a clatter of armour, laughing my ass off.

"Better…then…Yume…" I squeezed out of myself as I began to cry from laughing so hard.

"What's so funny?" Pinky fumed.

"Ah…that was the best laugh I had in ages." I finally got up and used my mask to wipe the tears off my face. "Thank you."

"As much as I appreciated the laugh, I have better things to do Takami." I grabbed Takehito and proceeded to the elevator. "Nice seeing you and do tell Akitsu hi for me would you? If you're still around tomorrow, let's go for drinks!"

"Why…you…" Pinky growled and then rushed me as I walked on. "Don't ignore me!"

I shifted a little and suddenly the girl slammed her fist into a pillar which turned out to be harder than her fist. Hearing her bones break I smiled a little. Perhaps, after she finishes final adjustments, it would be worthwhile to take another look.

A roar and a sudden danger alarm from my instincts shook me out of my thoughts. I turned and blocked a punch from the pink haired girl with my gauntlet, an angry red aura engulfing her fist. So powerful were the blow and the shockwave that followed it that I even slid back half a foot. The energy management of said ability was piss poor though, as excess power erupted from her back in a parody of jet fire or dark red wings.

"Impressive." I stared at the panting girl who clutched her right arm in pain, blood dripping down it. "You managed to intrigue me, girl."

"I'll see you later, Benitsubasa." I teased the girl with a nickname I made up on the spot. "Perhaps you'll even interest Kara."

And with that, we were gone; the final sight of the girl was the determination in her eyes that stared into mine even as the door closed.


	13. Gate:Kamikura

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"…"<p>

"…"

We stared at Kara and Miya arguing exactly as we left off, I don't think they even noticed us gone. I patted Takehito on the shoulder and nodded in a 'see-you-around' matter. He smiled back and made his way over to Miya's side.

"Kara, we are done, let's go finish our walk." I walked up to Kara and Miya with a smile.

"Oh?" Kara suddenly dropped her conversation with Miya and turned away from her without a care. "About time, I was beginning to run out of arguments. I see that it turned out a false alarm of sorts?"

"Actually, no." Takehito answered as he stood by Miya's side who immediately began to fuss over him. "Minaka turned on area wide deactivation pulse and I am still not sure how he did it. I only had time to switch the alignment out of Sekirei/Ashikabi to everything non-Sekirei related."

"But, that'd mean-!" Miya paled rapidly.

"I am fine, Miya, thanks to Rei here." Takehito held Miya gently as he gave me a smile. "She transported the Jinki to the Sprit Realm where it went off without an effect."

Both Miya and Kara gave me a glance. Miya's been full of relief and thanks while Kara's was…more difficult to interpret.

"Speaking of which, it didn't seem to come back, are you going to return it to Minaka?" Takehito asked me.

"Umm…I can't viably undo Gate:Swap." I shifted my balance to my left leg as my right began to draw circles in the dust. "Minaka will just have to wait until the effect ends and the Jinki returns naturally."

Kara laughed as the duo in front of us grew confused.

"And when will this be?" Miya asked in a gentle manner.

"Anywhere from months to years." Kara grinned only as she could, a vicious sort of triumph in the gesture. "Rei just bought us time, delaying the Sekirei Plan you caused to happen."

"I did not-"

"I don't care about your excuses." Kara interrupted her with a sneer. "Let's go Rei."

And just like that we walked off, Kara listening as I told her everything that happened in detail. Kara had a few laughs, especially at Minaka's effort to replace Yume and, as expected, grew interested in meeting Benitsubasa, her spontaneous initiation intriguing her greatly. Later, as we walked home, Kara motioned us to stop and turned to look at me seriously.

"Why did you save Takehito?"

"Because he's an expert in Jinki." I said seriously. "I've had plans for them, but now that I know I could lock these gods forsaken control devices away his importance only grows. Holding the Jinki hostage with an expert in them whose life I own…"

"Minaka won't stand for this you know." Kara replied coming a little bit closer and tracing a line on my armoured chest casually. "He'll force you into hiding in Spirit Realm for ever if you deliberately target Jinki."

"I am sure we could arrange a couple accidents here and there." I smiled at Kara gently. "But even if I am to be stuck in Soul Form, it would be passible so long as I can stay by your side."

Kara smiled and leaned in, kissing me beneath the dim lights given off by park lamps.

"We should take a vacation." Kara suddenly said next morning as we lay together. "I want to see this Benitsubasa…and Yume."

"I don't see why not." I shrugged and reached for the phone that lay on the bedside table. "Minaka should use Specialists more often; some of the missions we got lately are so weak that a human could've done them."

Kara yawned and nodded in agreement as I began calling Takami.

"W-what…" A ragged form of Takami picked up the phone, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Kara and I are coming over; she wants to see Benitsubasa and the girl Yume saved."

"Ah, Musubi? Sure I guess…" She yawned again and dropped her head back onto the pillow, not even bothering to end the call. I smiled at the scene; Takami was literally a zombie in early mornings and would generally force herself awake with liters of coffee. Considering this was a Saturday, perhaps she wanted to sleep in a bit which made me feel a bit guilty now. Takami, on general, worked anywhere from 16 to 20 hours straight a day because there was just so much to oversee that had absolutely 0 error leniency.

She adopted this sort of work ethic after the disastrous screw up that happened to the now former number 7, Akitsu, who somehow self-winged after an adjuster error. Speaking of which, I should probably drop by and visit the calm, frigid Sekirei that I treated as a sister. Now that I think about it, the only person Takami explicitly trusts to cover for her is Akitsu and no one else. I wonder just what Akitsu had to undergo to get her knowledge and skills to that level where she rivaled Takami, the person who dedicated her whole life to this.

Getting Minaka's permission was easy. We dropped into his Intensive Recovery Ward room and said that we are taking a vacation to Kamikura Island. He was very receptive of this on the grounds that he was still in a medically induced coma. And so, without any actual packing, we got on a helicopter and took off to the Island we were born on.

"My my, if it isn't the Crow." I was surprised to see the familiar grinning face of Leroy who greeted us at the helipad. "Fancy seeing you here, after so many years."

"Leroy." Kara stared at him and began to pull out her blade slowly. "I warned you didn't I?"

The man's smile grew very dangerous and somehow two very large pistols appeared in his hands.

"Why, I believe you did. Now, what are you going to do about it?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and walked away from the sporadic gunfire, gun on sword clashes and maniacal laughter. Just where the hell did MBI get insanely skilled people like this? Emphasis on the insane part. I once again underlined my opinion that I was surrounded by very abnormal people when I underwent basic training on Kamikura. Even Leroy, who by all means should've been exactly who he looked like: a gun-ho sarcastic prick with big mouth, actually was a lot more than just that. I've read the Kamikura Invasion report on his activity there. The man's final kill count was enough corpses to make a battalion and he did this with just his pistols and a shit ton of ammo. The fact that he also regularly charged into melee range and then proceeded to walk out of the whole mess with nary a scratch…

I could see why Takami had him take over Dietrich's responsibilities.

"Ah…Rei." Akitsu rubbed her hands on my armoured back gently as I embraced her. "Thank you for saving Takami."

"You don't need to thank me for something I'd have moved heaven and hell to do." I snickered as I buried my face into her hair that smelled like fallen leaves and autumn in general. "Turns out I got sometime before Kara finishes having fun with Leroy, so let's talk."

Akitsu nodded slowly and we found ourselves in her rather cold office. I didn't particularly care as my solid armour kept me warm and Akitsu actually liked cold temperatures. I think it has something to do with the faulty way she was adjusted. The office itself was rather empty, a big table littered with papers and what looked like schematics and a small bed by the window were pretty much it. There was also a small bookcase filled with books whose titles made 0 sense to me and I just took Archive's explanation that they were all advanced science studies and rolled with it.

We spent the next hour, before a smirking Kara found us, talking about the latest news and what Akitsu was doing lately. What I really loved about Akitsu was that she knew that I didn't understand jack about any of this science terminology and worded her sentences so that I could understand what she was trying to say. Sort of like Takami but slower. Anyway, from her I learned that they were about to wake Sekirei 81 to 92 and that that meant that there was only 1 batch left after this one. There is also the 'misplaced' batch or so Takami calls it which consists for 87, 88, 104, 105, 106, 107 and 108 who, for various reasons, were taking longer than normal to get adjusted. In fact, according to Akitsu, the misplaced batch will probably be released sometime with the final batch if not later.

Interested, I asked her to give a quick summary of why for each one and Kara sat down, her own interest showing.

"When numbers 87 and 88 were forced out of their growth tubes, we found that somehow they still grew at an accelerated pace and although we managed to stabilize them so they don't age into death, they cannot be put into growth tubes anymore. This forces us to teach them manually which takes longer than usual." Akitsu began before I interrupted her with frown.

"Wait, what do you mean teaching manually? Wasn't I taught manually?"

"Ah, but you have Archive." Akitsu nodded slowly. "Normal Sekirei are taught in growth tubes via induced dreaming but you for some reason only had Archive. Still, this allowed you to learn much faster than the manual method where we actually must teach the Sekirei the knowledge required piece by piece."

"What can you tell us about number 88, Musubi?" Kara leaned in, her interest in the fate of Yume's vessel clear.

"Musubi…" Akitsu closed her eyes briefly. "An excitable girl with battle lust and unfortunate habit of not caring one bit for her studies. Although she possess Yume's core, she only uses her own restored core which is in permanent synchronization with Yume. She is a melee fighter, much like Yume but, unlike her, does not possess any long range attacks. Up to this point, we have not received a single piece of data that suggests that Yume's core does anything more than sleep."

"Have you tried waking her?" Kara's excitement grew as she stood up and took a step to Akitsu who merely watched her.

"Yes. There was no reaction to anything we've tried." Akitsu cooled off Kara's mood. "The only viable theory so far is that she is in a Sekirei equivalent of a coma right now and only time or a Jinki can wake her."

"Have you tried using a Jinki on her?" I asked before Kara could.

"Yes, the amount we have though is not sufficient for the feature required." Akitsu tilted her head forward slightly. "I believe that in order to do such fine control all 8 Jinki will be required in a single place."

"Tch, figures." Kara sat back down, frowning.

"Anyone else worthy of notice?" I asked to break the heavy silence.

"Yes, number 105, who you named Benitsubasa has requested to train manually rather than to sleep in her pod." Akitsu spoke. "Her friend, number 104, requested to do the same and has received the name Haihane after her initiation."

Her voice changed slightly towards the end, something troubling her.

"Oh? The girl decided to keep the name Rei gave to her?" Kara stretched, an amused smile appearing on lips.

"Yes, she stated that she'll grow strong enough to make the Reaper acknowledge her." Akitsu nodded.

"…another nickname now?" I sighed in exasperation.

"This one is actually official designation from Minaka." Akitsu shrugged. "Speak with him if you don't like it. As of a month ago, your official name is number 51, Rei, the Reaper."

I bowed my head in resignation. Why, of all the possible time, did Minaka pick now to get obliterated by Takami when I wanted to do the exact thing to him…?

"Moving on," I could practically feel Kara's amusement roll off her in waves. "This Benitsubasa, do you feel like she could make the cut?"

"Now? No." Akitsu shook her head. "In a year or two of intense training if she keeps it up? Yes."

"Do you want to take her in Kara?" I glanced over at the Black Sekirei who pondered the proposition.

"I want to see her, test her." She finally decided and with that we followed Akitsu to the training grounds.

"Haaagh!" The pink haired teen leapt at the training pillar, shattering it into practically dust with her fist as pale red flames erupted from her back briefly. Beside her stood her gray haired friend with gigantic claws that extended her arms to practically drag on the ground, bending her back with their weight. Haihane concentrated for a moment and then dashed past another pillar, her strangely shimmering claws drawing an X on the pillar. A second later, the pillar slid into pieces, sliced up and mangled. They both panted for a bit, regaining strength until Haihane noticed our incoming group.

"Ah, Benitsubasa, we got company." She pointed at us with her claw.

"You!" The smaller girl shouted as soon as she saw my face and then charged at me head on, his fist glowing red. Seeing a faint smile on my face, Akitsu and Kara stepped to the sides as the girl dashed straight through me, her swing unbalancing her and dropping her on her ass after a spin.

"W-wha-" She froze as my blade touched her throat.

"Is that any way to greet your betters?" I smiled widely my mask off for once, as the girl turned sickly gray from paling so much. Sometimes I think I draw too much of Kara into myself. Then I remember how fun it is to troll people. "Perhaps you won't be needing that empty head of yours if you aren't using it, hmm?"

As the young girl fainted, I heard clash of steel and turned to see Haihane doing her best to even scratch Kara who stood on one spot and parried everything Haihane threw at her with obvious laze.

"So? How is she?" I asked.

"Mmm…not bad, if nothing else." Kara shrugged nonchalantly as she sent the smaller girl flying with a riposte, shards of broken claws glimmering in the sun. "But it'll be a long while before she turns into anything noteworthy."

"W-what are you…" Haihane sat up with a groan and stared at Kara with fear.

"I am number 4, Karasuba." Kara introduced herself with a mocking smile.

"Karasuba, Rei." Akitsu walked up to us silently. "I suggest that you show a real battle tomorrow. I find the lack of reality troubling for the Sekirei about to be released. They do not know what they are going in for and will simply die."

"I see no problem with that Akitsu." I nodded. "Let them see just what awaits them on the other side, I and Kara can show it easily."

Kara merely nodded and then we walked off to the house we'll be settling in for the next couple days.


	14. Gate:Recruitment

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>Kara, I, Akitsu, Takami and Leroy – bandaged in a couple places but grinning his head off – stood before about a dozen young girls who stared at with wide, innocent eyes with the exception of Benitsubasa who stared at me with fiery determination and Haihane who warily watched Kara.<p>

"Listen up!" Takami stepped forward and called for attention. "You are lucky, for today we have number 51, Rei and number 4, Karasuba from MBI Disciplinary Squad here to show you what a real fight between two mature Sekirei is like."

"Maybe after seeing this, you pathetic lot will pull your heads out of your asses and finally start doing something." Leroy sneered at the girls before him, his contempt for their lack of effort evident.

"Akitsu, if you would please." Takami turned to her Sekirei who nodded and created an icy set of staggered platforms for the girls to sit on. They then cleared the area, leaving only me and Kara standing, facing each other.

"I say we start off slowly." I offered, not bothering to keep my voice down. "They won't have the skill to see what's going on at our full speeds."

"Mmm, sure." Kara leisurely agreed, not caring to pay attention to an angered mutter that the crowd of girls raised. We drew our blades, Kara's standard MBI nodachi while I pulled out my twin Sekirei longswords. For a moment we stood still and then -.

By our definition, slow meant that we only moved slightly below the speeds at which a typical human eye will only see a blur. The girls all shut up as we danced in a shower of sparks and dust, our strikes constantly parried, dodged or shifted. I, in my usual style, simply ignored all strikes that would land on my armour at a glancing angle and deflected only those who would hit me head on. Kara on the other hand had to dodge, parry or deflect every single strike I threw with my blades, however, her skills were more than enough to do so while at the same time attacking me with sharp, deadly blows.

Slowly, we began to weave in our abilities into the mix. The crowd gasped the first time pale blue lines began to litter the air, fabric of space hurriedly stitching itself back. In turn, Kara's blows began to pound me into the ground as she fed her power into her blows. Soon our battle accelerated to speeds at which all any human would see is a blur and judging by the cries of shock, so did a big part of these Sekirei. Finally, after 10 minutes of this prelude, we began our fighting in earnest, taking ourselves to our limits. Or, rather, I tried to strain my limits as Kara merely took the fight seriously.

At this point I doubt any observers except for Leroy and Akitsu actually saw what was going on and not the after effects like continuous shockwaves, spark showers, dust plumes, craters and blue lines crisscrossing everything. Finally, 15 minutes since the start of our spar, I couldn't keep up anymore and Kara instantly pounced on my stumble to send me flying into the icy podium, shattering the thing into icicles that buried me. I phased through them all and walked over to Kara in my Soul Form, breathing heavily. Kara on the other hand merely grinned as always, only a light sag in posture revealing that she was relaxing after a serious fight. I glanced back at the girls crowding on the still standing part of the podium and mirrored Kara's grin. Each one of them sported the expression 'how am I supposed to fight these guys in the future!?' There were a couple exceptions though. Although Benitsubasa looked as white as a sheet, the determination in her eyes didn't go anywhere which pleased me strangely. Haihane also stared at us with an odd look but she didn't show fear, only an intense sense of hunger of all things. And then there was also another girl, one that looked practically like Yume, who bounced up and down in barely controlled excitement, as if she couldn't wait to fight us.

"Thank you, for letting us watch your training exercise." Akitsu thanked us, serious as always as she, Takami and Leroy came closer.

"No big deal." Kara waved her away. "Not like we used anything actually dangerous or powerful so this is fine."

I glanced at the girls who were listening to every word and grinned. Some of them actually fainted from the notion that what we did here wasn't all that impressive by our standards. Some of them looked at us incredulously, unable to accept that fact. The fools, if I or Kara actually fought with full strength here with our powers we'd destroy half the island. My latest abilities I've uncovered and honed would've done most of the damage. Unlike Kara who is aimed at assassinations and single target combat, I've developed most of my abilities to be area-of-effect in an attempt to at least clip Kara in our day to day duels. Abilities like Gate:Random for instance, which happens to be my favourite, randomly swaps slices of Living Realm with Spirit Realm and what would happen to a person if suddenly half of his torso happens to be in another reality? The answer is rather messy and the last time I've used this ability we had to swim back to shore as Kara grumbled at me for sinking an aircraft carrier our target was on. Gate:Random is merely one out of several more basic abilities and then there were several which really screwed with people's minds. Like Gate:Marble which bent the world around itself, locking the targets in a sphere of Realms, confusing the shit out of anyone inside as it was rather difficult to tell which part of you was where at the time and considering only Spirit can touch Spirit and only Living can touch Living… It was also quite freaky in what it allowed those who understood how it works to do. I once used it phase a soldier's heart straight out of his body while watching as another accidently phased his own brain out his skull when trying to adjust his helmet.

Albeit my abilities took a LOT of thought and theory behind them to get, once I figured out how they worked I was pleasantly surprised by just what I could do. Still, in the end, I always lost. I just wasn't able to keep up with Kara and had to either retreat into the Spirit Realm or take a beating.

As I was thinking I kind of zoned out everyone and missed out on Takami's speech, Leroy's taunts and came back only in time for Akitsu to finish her quiet dismissal. While the children hurried off to leave, I was surprised to see Benitsubasa walk towards us with determination, Haihane right behind her. We watched as they came close and then Benitsubasa clutched at the hems of her red and black dress and stated.

"Please, teach us. We want to be strong like you, stronger even!"

We all glanced at each other and then Takami and Leroy shrugged, giving me and Kara the choice while Akitsu merely watched.

"You know, I spent 2 years…" I paused, stunned by the revelation. "Huh…it's been 2 years already."

"Anyway, I spent 2 years getting destroyed by a superior foe. I fought, bled and sacrificed much to get to where I am now and I am still nowhere near Kara's strength." I stared at the duo seriously. "Are you prepared to invest so much while realizing that you may never actually surpass us?"

"Khmm, to be honest, Rei." Kara laughed. "It's not that you haven't been growing, it's the fact that I grew with you. Had you fought the me from 2 years ago, I would've lost."

"We are fine with never beating you." Benitsubasa stated. "Doesn't mean we'll give up trying though and it definitely doesn't mean we don't want to at least get to the level where we can give you a decent fight!"

"And what of you, Haihane?" Akitsu asked suddenly, her melancholic voice startling us all. "So far, I've only seen Benitsubasa actually want this, so why are you here?"

"I want power." Haihane turned her black eyes to Kara. "I don't care if I'll never defeat you. I just want to be powerful. I want others to look at me as they did at you today and I want them to be in awe. To fear me, to look at me as if I was a Goddess manifest upon this world."

I looked at Kara and saw that now; there was no way Kara would pass up training up what seems like her copy. Which meant that I'd have to grab Beni with me too. Then I thought of her possible training schedule and a sadistic leer appeared on my face that made the poor girl flinch.

"We'll take them." I glanced at Kara to see a slight nod. "Pack their stuff, we are going home tomorrow."

"…"

"What?" Kara asked as she climbed into my bed later in the night. After we sent Benitsubasa and Haihane off with Akitsu, I went to talk with Takami while Kara skulked off somewhere and only now came back, nearly ten hours later.

"Tch, I visited the brat."

"Yume?" I opened both eyes now and stared at Kara intently.

"…I couldn't sense her." Kara turned her eyes to the ceiling. "It truly is as Akitsu said."

"We'll see her again, one way or another." I told her with 0 doubt in my voice and then shifted over to pull her towards me, sighing in content at the feel of her warmth.

"One way…" Kara whispered as I fell asleep and then huffed causing me to smile. "Too long."

"Living here will be quite simple." I did the honours of acting a glorified tourist guide as Kara had to go on a mission the moment we returned. Minaka wasn't particularly happy with our vacation but to him the fact that we accepted Benitsubasa and Haihane as apprentices was more than worth the trouble. He started spewing some garbage about how this '3rd generation Disciplinary Squad will be the best' or something like that as I didn't bother listening to him and just left instead. At the moment I and the two young Sekirei just entered our floor.

"Each one of you will have a door engraved with your symbol. Do not enter other Sekirei's rooms without permission." I told them sternly as we walked over to the rooms' side of the floor. "Kara may have accepted you as students but if you end up in her room by accident or otherwise, you might as well save yourselves the pain and jump through the window."

"Umm, you call Karasuba, Kara, why?" Haihane asked after they tossed their things into 2 unmarked rooms.

"Because she lets me." I answered simply. "If you try calling her anything but Karasuba, your demise would be extremely painful and inevitable."

The duo gulped at my carefree tone that accentuated my words.

"What's in this room?" Benitsubasa tried to break the uncomfortable silence and pointed at the door emblazoned with a Sekirei symbol inside a golden sun.

"That's…Yume's room." I said sadly before shaking myself and continuing. "If we catch you so much as standing near it, there might not be anything left of you to clean up."

"Umm…anything else we should know about that's incredibly dangerous in this place?" Haihane asked, paled and shaking.

"Not really." I answered and they breathed a sigh of relief. "You are not welcome in my room either, but I won't really kill you for it. Just hurt you. A lot."

Messing with the 2 shaking girls was quite fun, truth being told.

"We will not be actively teaching you." I stated as we all sat at the table, Kara still on her mission.

"What?"

"Why?"

The duo chorused confusion and fear on their faces.

"Because we don't know how to." I poured myself a glass of red wine. "All we'll give you is an unbeatable sparring partner against whom you are welcome to try anything and everything and push your limits. We will also provide you live practise against armed and mostly dangerous humans and we will give you constructive critique whenever we feel like it."

I leant back and took a sip, enjoying their lost expressions.

"You are here, to push yourself. To train against a foe you cannot hope to defeat at your current level. I found that if you are trying your best in a life or death situation – which, coincidentally, will be every single morning spar against us – that is when you get the best ideas, the best results."


	15. Gate:Benitsubasa

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"…I am sorry, what did you just say?" I turned to the ID field operative who gulped and turned sickly white. We, that is, the operative, I and Benitsubasa, were currently sitting in a masked van a block outside the hotel at which our target stayed. The ID curator who oversaw this mission had ensured me that this would be a simple one, just what was needed to ease Benitsubasa into our duty as a member of the Disciplinary Squad. Although, at this point I am thinking of talking to Kara about renaming it to MBI Black Ops Squad as there'd literally be no difference. Or Smersh – the legendary Russian 'Death to Spies' counter-intelligence section Archive was so fond of. Regardless, we practically went around and killed anyone who threatened us – the Sekirei – or the MBI. So, spies and traitors mostly, occasionally we would also intercept other Black Ops operations in Shinto Teito.<p>

Hmm, I think I am getting off track, I mused as I surveyed the operative who was so white that he practically turned green.

"Would you run that past me again please?" I offered him a smile, not that he could see it behind my mask.

"T-there's a cartel meeting in that hotel." The operative gulped and hesitantly continued. "From what I've been able to find out, there are 6 major bosses attending and so far the Intel on their plans suggests that they are here to party, play casino and talk business with the traitor."

"And the guards on duty?" I leaned against the van's side carefully.

"E-each boss brought along several dozen guards and on top of this the hotel is operated by a very reputable retired mob boss who also has several dozen guards to secure peace. Overall, the estimated opposing force is around 100-150 men."

"…This was supposed to be an easy mission?" Benitsubasa rubbed her hands nervously. "How the hell are we supposed to get through that many guards?"

"So long as they don't have artillery or heavy weapons, it doesn't matter how many men they have – they are merely walking dead without sufficient tools required to take on a Sekirei." I reflected melancholically, thinking about the situation. Contrary to what I just said to Benitsubasa, it all depends on the Sekirei in question. Against someone of Kara's caliber, nothing short of heavy artillery and possibly missile strikes is guaranteed to bring her down. It doesn't matter how many men are on the opposing side, Kara would kill them all with equal ease. And then there are several Sekirei who can cheat and even a nuclear strike isn't a guarantee when dealing with them. I happen to be one of those, due to Soul Form. Of course the moment I leave Soul Form I'd instantly die from radiation but who cares about details, right?

On the other hand, against someone like Benitsubasa who doesn't have any inherent abilities nor the skills to protect herself, tossing a dozen men with machine guns is a viable solution as with that many bullets going in her general direction, injury and eventual death is a guarantee. This poses a big problem because there is going to be a lot more than just a dozen men with automatic weapons guarding the person we are after. It's not just the fact that they pose actual danger to us, the fact is that they will slow us down long enough for the target to be evacuated, thus causing us to fail the mission.

Truthfully, this isn't the hardest mission I've ever faced and I could do this alone. But that's the problem, this is Benitsubasa's fist mission, I can't leave her out of this, she'll never forgive me for it. Well, there's no way around it, let's go in through the front door like always.

"Are you ready?" I turned to Benitsubasa who was a bit pale but the flame in her eyes smouldered on as always. She grinned at me and showed thumbs up to cover up her nervousness.

"You'll remain on line with me, constantly." I turned to the field operative who nodded, putting on his headgear. "Track our target and update us on his position. Everything else is secondary. With this many possible witnesses in a middle of a populated city like this, survivors are inevitable."

He merely closed his eyes in recognition. He knew all of this of course; I was more or less talking for Benitsubasa's sake.

"Let's go." I opened the door of the van and hopped out, Benitsubasa following closely after me. As we walked the block towards the hotel, I explained to my apprentice what was going to happen.

"Because this mission just went badly, I'll be accompanying you for it. Do not worry; there will be plenty of killing for you too." I smiled a bit at how she paled a bit more at that. Clearly she wasn't happy with the killing part. "Once we get in, do not bother finishing off anyone you hit. So long as they cannot attack us anymore, their lives are of no concern to us. Our mission is to get to our target as quickly as possible to prevent his escape. Everyone who gets in our way needs to get out of our way and it doesn't matter how we do it."

"Right." Benitsubasa took several deep breaths to calm herself down and cracked her knuckles. I chuckled quietly at her determination. It reminded me of me before my first mission. I was just as determined as her to prove myself to Yume, Kara and myself. Prove that I was strong, that I was worthy.

"Remember," I reminded her as we walked into the hotel and the operative told me which door I needed. "Aim high – head or chest area – humans, in general, do not have the reflexes, speed or skill required to dodge our attacks. There are exceptions to this, you may have heard of the MBI Specialists but I do not expect for us to run into any here."

Benitsubasa nodded and opened her mouth to say something but at this point we already reached the doors at which a couple burly men in black suits stood guard at.

"Hey, this area is off-" One of them tried to say something but I simply continued on my swords at the ready, the guards coughing and then hitting the floor, cloven in half.

"Or simply hit them hard enough to instantly kill them." I offered a green Benitsubasa a sweet smile as she stared at the corpses before I kicked the door in. "Good evening!"

I proceeded to hack and slash at half a dozen men on the other side, my speed allowing me to kill most of them before they could so much as take aim. Behind me, my student quietly – comparatively to the yelling and screaming going on – was emptying out her stomach.

"Hmm…" I pursed my lips, looking around at the blood covered room. At least it was silent now. "Let's go Benitsubasa; they'll hit the alarm soon."

The sickly girl nodded and got up, afraid of opening her mouth for the fear of being sick again. Suddenly, a door right beside her opened and she found herself facing the barrel of a gun belonging to another nondescript burly guy with a couple more buddies behind him.

"Free-" I think he wanted to say 'freeze' but considering panicked Benitsubasa just pulverized all of his upper body into fine red paste that covered both her and his teammates, we will never know. As everyone froze at the unforeseeable event, I sighed and dashed over, ending the leftovers in a couple slashes.

"Not bad." I took a glance at the 2 legs, hips, a bit of guts and a fragment of a spine – all that was left of Benitsubasa's target. "He's definitely not getting back up again."

I laughed as Benitsubasa retched again.

"Come on, we need to keep going." I continued down the corridor that the trio so kindly opened up for us, my swords pointing at the ground before me. Behind me, Benitsubasa trudged on, her eyes darting all over the place, looking for more ambushers. The corridor ended in a staircase and about 10 men who opened fire at us with pistols immediately. Moving to position myself in between them and the unarmoured Benitsubasa, I dashed over, parrying the occasional bullet going for my head. This time, Benitsubasa didn't even get to do anything but watch as I filled the staircase landing with limbs, guts, body pieces and tons of blood. It wasn't as if I was trying to hack my enemies into pieces, they just tended to come apart no matter where I hacked them at.

As much as I hated securing stairs, elevators were infinitely worse. The reason for this was that they are controlled by the people the building belongs to. Of course, if the enemy can't take advantage of that, then they are terrible. Like here for instance, we arrived on the second floor landing precisely as the elevator doors opened and we found 8 guys staring at us in surprise. I was about to move in to kill them all when Benitsubasa surprised me by slamming the elevator floor hard enough to snap the cables holding it up.

"Nice." Was my comment as the elevator plummeted down to hell, horrified death wails of its occupants bouncing up the elevator shaft. "Good reaction."

"T-thanks." Benitsubasa swallowed hard and covered her ears to keep the screams out.

"Hmm, they have barricades." I frowned as I pulled back, about a hundred bullets riddling the wall beside the corner I peeked out from. "And machine guns."

"Do we need to go that way?" Benitsubasa swallowed nervously at the destroyed wall.

"You know what? No we don't." I had a brilliant idea looking at my student. "Benitsubasa, shatter the floor beneath their feet."

"But won't that bring down the building?" She stared at me with wide eyes.

"Well, if you don't try to bring it down, it won't." I turned back to the corner. "I'll hold their attention. Do not fail me."

"Y-yes." Benitsubasa took a deep breath and a pale red aura began to envelop her fists. "I am ready."

The moment she said that, I was already in the corridor, my swords creating a wall of steel through which nothing could get through. Well, that's not true considering the sheer volume of the bullets, I could only block and parry those heading for my head. My armour had to tank the rest and the amount of impacts was starting to drive me back slowly. Thankfully, the next instant it all ended as Benitsubasa rocked the building, collapsing both the corridor and the big room at the end of it. Cracks spread throughout the walls, but our corridor held.

"Well done." I gave my apprentice a sharp nod and then continued down the corridor towards an elevator shaft, the idea I had driving me on. Reaching the elevator, I sliced open the doors and then looked up into the dark void above. Not ideal, but it'll do, we are running out of time to continue smashing our way floor by floor. The field operative outside reported that they are calling in a helicopter to evacuate everyone and it'll be here within 15 minutes.

"Let's go." I jumped in and began making my way upwards using the emergency ladder.

"I can't see anything…" Benitsubasa whispered beneath me, the narrow steel corridor echoing her voice. "How do you even know where you are going?"

"I guess." I grinned at the soft curse below as Benitsubasa's foot slipped in shock.

"Let's try…here." I slashed at the metal doors and broke through with my body as a battering ram. "Oh hi there."

The expressions on the men's faces were priceless. Here they were, waiting for us with a decent barricade and several men with LMGs perched up in good positions, ready for us to attack from the staircase. And then suddenly, in we pop-in in the middle of them all through the elevator. The stupor didn't last long and within seconds all of their weapons were turning our way. Unfortunately for them, for a melee Sekirei such as myself a couple seconds is a long time in combat with an inferior foe.

As I wiped my blades on the nearby corpse, I had to admit that I liked Benitsubasa's style. Or rather lack of. She literally climbed in and started swinging at everything in her reach – turning about a third of the defenders into red goo that covered pretty much everything. There were a few things left over, legs mostly, a few hips and spines and a decent amount of guts. It was very messy, even compared to me, but – just like me – her opponents are never getting back up again. If they did, I'd call for evacuation and screw the mission, fighting something that won't go down after 80 percent of its body is fine red paste is not in my job description.

What I didn't like though, is the fact that practically after each fight, Benitsubasa was sick and as far as I could see, her mental stability was deteriorating with each bloody mess that she caused. Perhaps taking her along was a worse idea then leaving her with the field operative…

"Shhh." I hugged her, forgetting about the mission for the moment. "It's fine, you did well."

"So…much….blood." She clenched her eyes shut as she rested in my grasp. "So much screaming."

"Come on, we are almost there." I gently set her down and lifted up her head so she could look at me. "We are almost done, our target is but a stairway away."

"A-aight." She took several deep breaths trying to calm herself. It…worked somewhat. I could at least see that spark in her eyes begin to light up again.

"Let's finish this."

"We've come a long way to find you, Doctor Moretti." I drawled as we entered the roof, the helipad with several dozen people only a couple dozen meters ahead. "It would've been so much nicer if you died quietly in a ditch somewhere."

"Damn it! Your men are useless, she's here!" The Italian scientist panicked at the sight of me with my blades casually swinging in tact with my walking and Benitsubasa who literally dripped blood as she walked on.

"Kill those bitches!" One of the bosses, a young looking black dude shouted at his guards.

"The target is yours, Benitsubasa." I nodded reassuringly to my apprentice. "I'll take care of the rest."

"R-right, Teacher." She tightened her fists, a hard look appearing in her eyes as she stared at the panicked Italian.

"Let's have a good fight, mm?" I smiled at the half a hundred or so men who slowly encircled me.

"Waste her!" One of the bosses, a Russian judging by the accent this time, yelled.

A hail of bullets crashed upon what used to be my position a moment ago. I on the other hand, was already swinging at the nearest suited thug who raised his sawed off shotgun in an attempt to shoot me. I was much faster though and with a single ethereal blue glowing sword flick I was already rushing towards my next target, even as the man turned to try and follow me. I could feel a grin coming on as I heard him fall in pieces, dead before he even hit the ground. I think that over the years, I really did pick up several things from Kara. Like joy of battle and appreciation in death of my foes.

60 seconds into the combat, I was already on my 17th kill, the chaos of the battle only aiding me. These gangsters were anything but trained soldiers. So as soon as they started dying, those left alive started to freak out. Seeing their comrades die gruesomely as they fell to the blood covered roof in pieces, those who still lived started shooting in my general direction, not even bothering to aim, trying to get me by sheer volume of bullets. Unfortunately, that is the worst thing they could've done. I didn't even bother parrying and blocking the bullets anymore, my armour protecting me from their pistols and SMGs. Occasionally I swatted a bullet out of the air that was going for my head but those were few. More often than not, I found myself out of immediate targets as the friendly fire killed the men I was going for.

"D-dem-" A short stab and a wet sloshing sound was the end of the final thug who fell into the puddle of blood. I stared at him for a second, ignoring the gruesome scene around me and the cries of the wounded. Due to the speed I was going at, more of than not, the men I hacked at survived - if one can call missing limbs and other various body parts survival. Of course there were also those who got hit by friendly fire and they looked a lot prettier then my left overs. Then I turned around and looked over the area, light wind ruffling my hair and the remnants of my haori gently. Their bullets may not have been big enough caliber to go through my armour but my haori and tabard were in shreds now. Noticing the lack of standing enemies – horribly mauled wounded crawling around who had the misfortune of not dying instantly didn't count – I walked over to raised helipad area and walked up the short stairs.

"Congratulations." I stopped before a shivering Benitsubasa who stared at a gigantic red stain before her. I am guessing that used to be the Italian but hell if I could find a single intact piece of him. It was as if someone went ahead and turned him into a gigantic blood spray that reached several meters to the end of the helipad and seemed like it would've kept going had there been more ground.

"You've finished your first mission."

She raised her face to look at my smiling one. My, did she look messy. Her face was covered by a drying mask of blood with two clear tear tracks going all the way down. Her pink long hair that she wore in a side tail was now a single reddish brown entity, glued together by the crimson fluid.

"Listen…" I paused for a second, wondering if I should do this, but decided that she needs this right now anyway. "What we did here, needed to be done. It is unfortunate that so many died as we fought to get to this bastard, but at the end of the day it is nothing more than misfortune for them and us."

"W-why did they all have to die?" Benitsubasa lowered her gaze on the spiky bloodstain she made. "Why did he have to die?"

"Mmm…" I sat down beside her and looked onto the rapidly darkening city. "They died because they did their duty. They swore to follow their leaders and their leaders got them killed. Simple as that and its not your fault in any way. It is the fault of their leaders and their bad decisions is what ended their lives on my blade and your fist."

"As for this bastard that is our target," I continued on, my hand around Benitsubasa's waist, bringing her close to me as she shivered from nerves. "This guy used to be an adjuster for a Sekirei. Number 81 I think, but I can't remember for sure. Anyway, he not only screwed up and nearly got our kin killed with faulty Initiation, but he also decided to flee Kamikura, taking as much data as he could get his hands on."

"As sad as it is, we aren't really here because he almost got one of our kind terminated, but rather for that data." I glanced at Benitsubasa's widely opened eyes. "That information, in the wrong hands, can and will lead our enemies to knowing more about us, to knowing our weaknesses and figuring out specialized weapons to kill us. By killing this man, we protect our entire race for another day. We are the guardians of our kind, Beni. We are all that stands between us all ending up on the operating table as the greedy humans cut us up to learn our secrets."

"W-why aren't there more?" Benitsubasa ignored me shortening her name. "Why did no one but I and Haihane want to join the Disciplinary Squad if it's so important? Why did we not know what you do before we joined?"

"The White Clown would rather have us all kept in the dark about the dangers of humankind." I practically spat out his name. "He woos us with love and romance and the stupid crap about Ashikabi…no one but us know the truth. The truth, is that humanity is by far not the white knight Minaka paints it as. Humanity is a varied beast, a hydra if you would. Each head is different, each human is unique. But as a whole, humankind is not ready for us."

"And so, we, the Disciplinary Squad hunt down and terminate anyone who is a danger to us Sekirei." I wrapped up my speech before adding an afterthought. "And by extension, MBI."

"Come." I stood up and offered the small girl who looked like a sparrow caught by a red rain. "We need to finish this and go home."

"Finish?" She took my hand and got up.

"Yea," I walked over to the edge of the platform and looked at the sea of blood amidst which mangled and tormented forms crawled about in agony, moaning pitifully to the uncaring skies above. "It is far too cruel to leave them in this state, Beni. Even our enemies deserve mercy, even if it's the final kind."


	16. Gate:Start

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"S-so…you want me to go in there a-and k-kill everyone!?"<p>

"Is that so difficult to understand?" I turned my eyes to the girl beside me, her much smaller form shaking. "It is what you signed up for; it is what we are here to do."

"Y-yes..." Beni took a deep breath and visibly calmed herself. "I'll do it."

"Hmm." I looked over my apprentice one more time. "Very well. Remember, the target must die. Everyone else is optional."

"Right." She swallowed hard. "I am off."

"You'll be fine." I watched her slowly run off towards an entrance to a secret bunker, gaining speed. It seems like she's going to preform her new move on the door to gain entrance. I looked on as she was enveloped by red energy and with a great shout she smashed into the several foot thick steel doors, the force of her Shock Charge carrying her straight through the massive gate and deep inside. I smiled; she grew quite nicely over the past year, now if only she'd get over her fear of killing people.

I'd like to say that Beni and Haihane took to our training like fish to water, but that'd be a lie. They sweated, moaned, screamed, bled and dragged themselves through it. The fact that Kara and I decided to make them our personal apprentices rather than shared meant that every couple weeks we pitted them against each other to see which one progressed further. So far, Benitsubasa was winning by 3. Kara was not happy to see Haihane get taken out within first 5 seconds of the last fight with Shock Charge. I smiled at the memory.

Unlike Karasuba who trained Haihane to be a specific, specialized slayer, I turned Benitsubasa into a generalist like myself, training her to make up abilities capable of doing anything and everything and thinking quick on her feet to combine all tools at her disposal to secure victory. The funny thing is, albeit Beni was stronger than Haihane, I, her teacher, was weaker than Kara. Beni remains mostly a hand to hand fighter and I was pleasantly surprised when she asked me if she could get a lighter version of my armour or at least something that wouldn't rip the instant she decides to use some of her stronger abilities.

Like Shock Charge for instance. When she activates that ability, she sends directed shockwaves through the ground with each step, which accumulate the longer she charges. After dashing for about twenty meters she can tear right through a tank if necessary, the shockwave would form a protective cocoon around her. Unfortunately, her clothes never survived the use of said ability even though it became her all-time favourite due to the amount of control and power it gave her. Opponent dodged? So long as she keeps running and merely turns, the shock power and shield will only grow. I once had her run a 300 meter lap and then crash into cliff. That proved to be a bad idea as I had to go and dig her out of the roughly 20 meter deep tunnel she carved into solid rock.

So, in the end, Beni got what she wanted and now ran around with a light nanoweave suit which resisted the shredding effects of her own abilities very well. The fact that it could also hold small caliber gunfire while being quite comfortable was merely a very nice bonus. I mean, she doesn't particularly care about armour when her Shock Charge shield can disintegrate a tank shell on contact - a proven concept.

The one thing I can't make her get over though is the fear of killing people, specifically their screams and pleas as they die. I must admit, I am at fault here as I took her with me on her first mission which went horribly wrong when the ID severely underestimated the amount of guards on sight. I mean, for fucks sake, the target was in the middle of a mafia hotel holding a conference attended by 6 major gangster bosses, each one with an army of bodyguards. Thankfully, after figuring out that this was far too dangerous for Beni's first mission, I merely told her to follow as I slaughtered my way through about a couple hundred people. Unfortunately, most of my blows didn't kill my enemies instantly as I was in a hurry to get to the target before he was evacuated.

Beni still has nightmares about that night and on the first night I had to stay with her in her bed to keep the nightmares away as she screamed herself awake on first try. After a restless night, the ID curators were very unhappy to see me at their door in the morning. After I left, the ones still alive prayed fervently to whatever gods they believed in and swore that this kind of bullshit will never happen again. So far, I haven't had the reason to come back. Minaka made a bit of a fuss about it, moaning how hard it was to hire decent intelligence agents but I just plain didn't care at that point.

Still, the damage was done and now, whenever Beni has to kill someone she does it with such overwhelming force to ensure that the target really stays dead that most of the time she turns her targets into fine red mist. She actually started to collect titles, much like her proud teacher, aka me. So far she got 'Red Sekirei' and 'Red Mist' but it's a start. Beats Haihane anyway who only got 'Blue Sekirei' to her name, although she and Kara don't seem to care much about those titles.

Well, I think I've waited long enough, let's go check on my valuable little bird. Another fun fact, her chest stays on A cup level and just doesn't want to grow further. Even though I couldn't care less with my chest only a size larger, Beni is very upset by this and when Beni is upset, things tend to get pulverized into dust. It's actually useful to taunt her with this during our daily spars as Beni will start to go after me with so much more killing intent than usual. Haihane takes great advantage of this in teasing fights as well, as she herself suddenly filled out very decently, even if her uniform and the bandages she wears hide it.

I'd have never thought of Haihane to be such a ditz, honestly. Although her claws and the skills Kara drilled into her make her a nightmare on the battlefield, whenever not in combat Haihane has a tendency to fall asleep, a by-product of the continuous grueling training we give to our protégés. It wouldn't have been so bad, if she didn't have the same 'zombie' mode as Takami in the morning. She has scratched and clawed herself with her own weapons so many times in the morning that even Benitsubasa took pity on her and suggested that she get tear resistant armour for herself. However, considering that Haihane's style of fighting relies on extreme mobility much like Kara herself, she can't afford to use armour, even the tiniest movement restriction might screw up her combo.

As I thought to myself I moved through the decimated complex, dust and fine red matter everywhere. Occasionally I'd find a body fragment like a hand still clutching a rifle or a chunk of a boot cladded leg. Never a head though, Beni tends to aim there first. Every now and then I'd see a metal door, completely wrecked with sharp edges pointing inside the room they were supposed to shield. As I walked through the complex I heard faint crying and heaving sounds far away. Of course, she would, I sighed. Beni tends to control her feelings by feeding them all to rage until the very end, when there's nothing more to destroy and no one else to turn into red mist. A berserker would be a fitting title, but it's not true. Her rage does not blind her, she merely turns into a machine that will not stop and will not stay down so long as her opponent still stands and she looks for anyway to get them; creativity is her niche.

I should get her to do something creative actually, I thought to myself as I made it to the final room, perhaps draw or play music or even sing. Beni had a decent voice so she could do that. She might also even make shockwaves with her voice, now that's an idea I should toss to her. She yells and roars in rage on a constant basis anyway, might as well give her shouts an actual use.

"There, there." I rubbed my hand across the sobbing girl's back after checking to ensure that everyone in the room is pulverized, the blood making a thick sloshing sound as I moved. "You've done well; your sisters are safe because of your sacrifice."

"W-why us…" Beni turned her pale face towards me, her red eyes shining with tears.

"Because we are the only ones who bothered to care." I answered, taking a seat on the blood covered floor beside Beni. "Because they are nothing but stupid, whiny, little brats who talk about love and peace and all the rest of that bullshit."

I pulled her into a hug and patted her bloody hair.

"They don't know about the price that we pay for them." I said softly as Beni listened, her sobs lessening. "They don't understand why we do what we must. They have never seen this side of humanity; they just don't understand the danger."

"But we do." Beni said thickly.

"Yes, we do." I smiled gently as I held the small Sekirei, her body making her pass for a child against my massive armoured frame. Before we began each mission, I'd talk to Beni about it, who the target was, what he or she did, what the consequences of letting them live would be. The first couple targets, excluding the fumbled first mission, I had tortured in her presence and forced them to tell her why they did what they did, why they had betrayed MBI and us with it. It wasn't pretty, but it was necessary. Beni needed to know why we hunt down and kill the traitorous scum.

I don't know how Kara handled Haihane's first kill, but judging by the lack of half the bottles in our bar one night, I have a pretty good picture of what might've happened. It was such a shame I couldn't use that tool to help Beni. Not only was she out like a light from a single glass of wine of all things, but it also amplified her nightmares somehow, making her remember every single one vividly when she woke up. Needless to say, Beni doesn't drink. Ever.

"Come, let's go home." I smiled at Beni and picked her up in a single smooth move, eliciting a surprised squeak. She smiled at me in thanks and curled up in a ball on my chest, falling asleep nearly instantly from the exhaustion and emotional trauma. I smiled at the small bundle of blood drenched cuteness that sought solace in my embrace. It was surprising just how close we grew over a single year. Granted, it was nowhere near the closeness I and Kara enjoyed, but whereas Haihane was merely a good friend and a drinking buddy, Benitsubasa…I guess the closest I could call her would be my adorable little sister. That could turn people into fine red-tinged mist.

"Huh." I stopped and thought about that for a second. Not sure the rest of the world would agree with me there I think, but who cares.

"Sister Rei…" Beni muttered in her sleep and smiled.

I stopped and stared, an odd heat creeping up my cheeks and I had the weirdest urge to hug Beni tighter and…squeal. Nope, never happening, I thought as I viciously squashed that urge down. Never happened. End of story.

"Shhh, little Beni." A tender smile crept on my face as I walked through the hole where the complex main doors used to be. "We are going home."

* * *

><p>"So it's about to begin." Beni shivered, her eyes glancing around the table, still in her combat gear as we took a detour prior to heading over to MBI Tower. Thankfully though, she took a shower to get all of the blood off her.<p>

"It's been twenty years and he has been very anxious for the past couple." Takami's shoulders drooped in defeat as she failed to stall Minaka for more time.

"We've done all we could, we used every excuse." Akitsu murmured to her comfortingly, rubbing her back gently.

"I know but-"

"There is nothing more we can do." Elizabeth said heavily and downed a glass of wine with a defeated sigh. "Even 107 and 108 are almost ready, no matter how young they look, their power has finished stabilizing."

"And that is all Minaka needs to start the game." I stated plainly, my elbows on the table and my head in my arms. "He never needed anything more than that."

"And now, you leave the rest to us." Kara's usual smile was nowhere near her face this evening as she drank a cup of sake. "I must admit, Rei. I was at first holding it against you for saving Takehito but now…Now it's our turn to stall for time as you look for a way out."

"I am not sure if that'll be enough." Takehito said with a heavy sigh as he sat by a tense Miya who looked at us with clear distrust. "Matsu and I are doing everything we can but it's taking a while to corrupt the rest of the Jinki when we have only one."

"How long?" Haihane asked as she swirled some rum around her wooden cup.

"A year at worst, half a year at best." Takehito answered with a lowered head.

"Many will die." I took a deep breath. "Many of the very same Sekirei I fought and killed for to protect up to now."

"So long as it's not a level 5 Deactivation, we can save them in the end." Akitsu stated calmly.

"Maybe it's better for me to just…steal the Jinki and hold them in the Spirit Realm." I raised my head to look at the party drinking and or smoking at the table.

"No." Kara denied it without any leniency. "That will never be an option and you know it. You'll go mad within half a month."

I wanted to say she was wrong that this was the only way…But I knew the truth. We all did. I could not stay in the Spirit Realm safely for longer than a couple days at most. At first it was the whispers, constant unblockable whispers just on the edge of my consciousness which grew louder and louder but I couldn't understand them. Then, I began to see silhouettes around the blue orbs, shades of people that died. See them walk around with a lost expression on their faces. And then, finally on the 7th day of the trial, they began to see _me_. At that point, after seeing their eyes on me I couldn't handle it and went back. The end result of this little experiment was that Kara had to take care of my body as I was in a near catatonic state for several days before she could get me out.

"We need to stall the First and Second stages for as long as possible." Elizabeth voiced out the obvious answer. "Make sure all of the birds find their True Ashikabi. Minaka will eat it up; he's still a romantic deep at heart and will understand our drive to get the birds their true Ashikabi…up to a point."

"Speaking of which, have you four found yours yet?" Takehito glanced at us 4.

"I don't need an Ashikabi." Kara said loftily. "Neither does Rei."

"Except that Minaka won't care about your opinions on the matter." Takami lit a new cigarette. "He will find a way to get you 4 an Ashikabi."

"We'll see." I rubbed my face tiredly. "We'll last till the end of Second Stage at least and then we can go and see which Ashikabi is actually worthy of us…or something like that."

"Yea, it's not like they got the strength to force us!" The ever smouldering flame in Beni's eyes roared in challenge, daring us to claim otherwise.

"They might." Haihane stated with a soft sigh. "But I doubt my Ashikabi would survive the night if he forced himself on me."

Kara didn't say anything and instead merely smiled a sick, twisted smile. I somehow doubt she'd kill an Ashikabi that forced himself on her – gods I don't know if that's even possible – as she doesn't want to die, but who ever said that the Ashikabi has to be in good physical and mental condition? I for one, think I'd lock the fool that dared to forcefully wing me in the Spirit Realm for couple weeks. The wreck that would remain will more than likely spend the rest of its wretched life in a mental institution.

"We will be cutting it close at best." Takehito rubbed his chin in frustration. "And we might be too late at worst."

"There is no other option but to try." Akitsu stated. "Try and accept no defeat. There is no room for failure here. One final thing I'd suggest is to avoid termination of any and all Sekirei. The more Sekirei live to see the Third Stage the longer it will last."

Everyone at the table nodded at that, it did make sense.

"To us, to a future that we will all live to see." Takehito stood up, holding his cup of dark red wine that looked eerily like blood under the dim lights. "Cheers."

"Cheers." We all took a drink of whatever we were holding; even Beni took a sip of something with a cringe.

"So." Kara's usual maniac smile slowly made it to her face. "Shall we begin?"


	17. Gate:Meetings

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Reminder: Author does appreciate reviews and would appreciate it a lot more if there were more of them. Anything relating to the story, any criticism, comments, suggestions, etc, would be nice.

Note: For some reason I thought -sama transitioned over as Lord/Lady but I was wrong. However, by the time I figured that out, it was too late as now I'd have to sift through thousands of words to change stuff which might not make sense if changed. So I'll leave it be as is and continue to using Lord/Lady/Milord/Milady as I see fit.

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><p>Takami was right when she said that Minaka would start sniffing about our Ashikabi situation. He even had the gall to suggest one, Natsuo Ichinomi, a survivor of what is now known as Second Kamikura Assault. The man was apparently a latent Ashikabi and during the assault he fought beside Akitsu all the way to the end and was hospitalized for half a year due to the injuries he took. All in all, he seemed like a pretty good candidate except for a couple things. First off, he was gay, he admitted it himself that he would never be able to care for us in a way we'd expect. Secondly, none of us reacted to him. Beni did admit a slight heat when he was around but it was a very, very weak reaction and we simply dismissed it as unimportant.<p>

Minaka threw a tantrum but in the end agreed that it didn't honestly matter so long as we all promise to stay as a single squad in his employment. We did say that we'll look around and perhaps even pick an Ashikabi near the end of 2nd stage if there was no other alternative. So far though, we didn't have any luck in finding anyone who caused us to react. It was a bit –

"Hmm, it's taking a while." Kara stretched a bit, wriggling under my arm as we sat side by side on the edge of a cliff overlooking what used to be a reinforced stronghold of a town. "And they started off so strong too~."

"They are cleaning up I bet." I nodded slightly at the massive plumes of smoke and dust that stretched into the blue sky hundreds of meters high. "I must admit I am pleasantly surprised by the progress of your blue bird. She shredded that armour detachment in seconds."

"True, but I doubt that little accomplishment will cause her jealousy with your Bloody Mist to vanish any time soon." Kara pointed leisurely at a huge gorge running straight through the complex as if someone took a giant bulldozer and drove through, not caring of what was in the way. "Even I am impressed by that."

"Beni took about half a kilometer charge up for her Shock Charge to do that." I shook my head slightly. "Your Haihane shredded her targets the instant they came into her sight."

"Still, my little student simply doesn't have anything that can cause widespread destruction and chaos like yours." Kara pouted a bit.

"Hah, like teacher, like student, hmm?" I turned and kissed Kara on the cheek.

"Hey now." Kara turned to me, a spark in her eyes. "Who ever said I can't obliterate areas now? It's all a matter of how much power I put in my swings, honestly."

"Ah," I gasped as we ended our kiss. "Maybe you'll show me, your powerful swings, mmm?"

"I like that idea." Kara grinned as she tapped a couple buttons on the inside of my collar, knowing very well by now how to get me out of my armor. "I think you'll like what you'll get when I do."

"Kara," I kissed her passionately as my hands slipped beneath her shirt and began to trace up her flat, muscular stomach. "I think this is the first time on a battlefield, neh?"

"Was bound to happen sooner or later anyways."

Our laughter rose to the smoke stained skies.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you 2 did that while we were out there!" Beni clutched her head in horror as we flew back to Japan. "And you didn't even bother stopping when we came back!"<p>

"We were supposed to?" I glanced at Kara who merely grinned back, our good moods from our little action still carrying on.

Beni merely huffed in annoyance, giving her the appearance of a wet sparrow. Haihane smirked at us, while Beni turned away the moment they found us; Haihane stayed and watched, her pale face red for once. All in all, I think this was a good mission for their first collaborative solo. I mean, we got to watch and relax while Beni and Haihane demolished the enemy and killed the target.

"I rather liked today's mission." I sighed contentedly as I hugged Kara to my side.

"I agree." Kara smirked at the reaction of our students. "I like having minions at my disposal do the grunt work. We should do more of this."

"Grrr." Beni growled as we laughed. "Garh! You two are unbelievable. The two strongest Sekirei I know behaving like…like…"

"You should unwind a bit too Beni." I grinned at her antics. "We know you need it."

"I-"

"I must say, what they did looked very interesting." Haihane turned to Beni. "The movies and hentai I watched had nothing on that. Want to try it some time?"

Beni stared at Haihane in stupor. Then took a glance at the claws lying beneath the feet of its owner and paled to a deathly hue. The three of us merely laughed at her reaction. Beni was a romantic and believed that only her True Ashikabi should have access to her body so being in a company of 3 perverts, as she called us, was rather difficult to her as we teased her to no end. Truthfully, I found nothing perverted in my relationship with Kara and I doubt Kara even knows what perversion means…or cares. I think only Haihane truly fits the bill due to the gigabytes of porn she accumulated. I tried watching it once, but thought it was stupid when I had the real thing beside me anytime she or I wanted to. Haihane on the other hand sees it as an art, something to be studied for future use. Personally, I think that whenever the 4 of us find an Ashikabi, we are in danger of losing him or her very fast due to Haihane and all of the promises she vowed to do to our Ashikabi. I think she compiled a list somewhere which she updates regularly after watching/researching more movies and hentai.

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><p>"Oh! Lady Karasuba!"<p>

We were walking through the main hall casually, on our way to our floor through the elevator as we didn't want to jump up there today, when we were called by an excited voice. Turning around, we saw several girls in various abnormal clothes, some of them holding weapons, all of them looking at us with awe and a hint of fear. In the front stood a girl in a miko outfit with a much shorter than usual skirt and red gloves, waving at us excitedly.

"Musubi?" Kara asked with surprise before breaking off to walk up to her. I followed; my own interest in Yume's host peaked as well. What was she doing here?

"Yep!" Musubi stared at Kara with wide, awe-filled eyes. "I am finally here, Lady Karasuba! I am going to go and find my True Ashikabi and with them, my true love!"

"Hmm." I tilted my head a little as I surveyed her outfit. "Fist fighter?"

Musubi nodded vigorously looking at me with same look she gave to Kara.

"A-are you number 51, the Reaper?" One of the girls, this one a tiny little thing in a blue blouse and a skirt with no weapon stared at me as if they saw a star.

"Yes." I turned to her after glancing back to Musubi who was talking to Kara about something. "Why?"

"Umm…" She stares at me with a light pink blush on her cheeks, she reminded me of a mouse honestly. "I-is it scary out there?"

"Out there?" I glanced at the glass doors beyond which Shinto Teito could be seen. "Yes. It's a scary and cruel world out there, little bird, so find your Ashikabi quick and grow strong. Strong enough to protect both your chosen and yourself."

The girl paled but then steeled herself and looked up at me with hope.

"I control the sound with my voice. But it hurts me when I use it, what should I do?"

I tilted my head to stare at this fascinatingly naïve creature before me. She asking me, the Reaper, the Sekirei whose graveyard is numbering in thousands to help her? Hmm, why not?

"Your power only hurts you because you let it." I poked the tiny girl on her forehead gently. "It is your power, control it. Force it to your will and it will obey."

"Train until you bleed and then train a bit more." I turned to face towards Kara who finished talking to Musubi and was waiting for me with Beni and Haihane. "Everyone started as a nobody, even Kara and I. It is only through sheer will and massive effort that we are where we are."

"T-thank you!"

I merely waved my hand as I walked on, a slight smile on my lips. I always wondered if the birds I save and give my advice to actually do anything about it. It would be a bit sad if they didn't and then died on the battlefield in vain, unable to even scratch their opponent, let alone defend their Ashikabi.

* * *

><p>I walked through the streets of Shinto Teito alone, Kara and Haihane on a mission while Beni was training away on a training ground in MBI. I wasn't actually expecting to happen upon anything this time around, it was noon after all and most criminal trash tended to come out only after sunset. Most Sekirei also didn't like fighting during the day but there were whispers in the population about strangely clad girls walking around and using supernatural powers. I grinned when I heard these humans squeak in fear as I walked past, my Disciplinary Squad haori ruffling gently under the wind, letting hints of my armour peek through.<p>

"Ack!" I glanced downward to see a boy on the ground after he collided with me from the side. He was rubbing his head from the impact with my shoulder and had a dazed look about him. I guess it's a bit similar to running into a street pole for the poor guy.

"You alright?" I reached out for the guy who looked like just finished his teenage years. Although it's a bit hard to tell with the Asian part of humanity I found. He could be in his twenties or in his teens and I wouldn't know the difference, not like I ever bothered to care honestly.

"Yea…thanks." He took my hand and stood up, surprised at the fact that I didn't budge a millimetre at the effort. "Sorry about that and wow, you are tough!"

"No problem." I took a closer look at the guy. He seemed average enough, black hair and black eyes with kindness in them, wearing standard blue jeans and a brown jacket. "In a hurry to somewhere?"

"Yea, I was heading over to the university to take a look at my entry exam grade." He ruffled his hair with an apologetic look. "Sorry I was so worried about my grades that I somehow didn't notice you."

"Again, its fine." I waved aside his apology and continued to stare at him. I swear, he looks familiar somehow. I have seen him before somewhere…or someone that looked like him.

"A-alright." He coughed nervously and then stepped back. "Well, I must be off, goodbye!"

"Goodbye." I stared as he disappeared into the crowd and then realized with a start that I forgot to ask who he was. Damn it, oh well, if he truly is someone I've seen before, I don't doubt I'll see him again. I shrugged and carried on, walking leisurely through the busy streets, humans parting way before me, afraid of my big form.

It was a bit sad really, how I could easily see practically to the horizon over this sea of black heads. Takami was right though, humans are a very varied and versatile race. Over the 3 years I've been roaming the world, I've seen humans of all sorts, shapes, colors and types. From Asians, to Blacks to Whites to Hispanics, to Arabs to Indians to Native Americans…humankind was very diverse. I've seen people so small that they barely reach my stomach and people so tall that it was I who reached only their chin. I may have not met many humans I could actually talk to, actually, scratch that, every single human I've met outside of Shinto Teito I had to kill practically instantly so there was very little actual communication involved. I must admit to knowing swears in more than a dozen languages though. The mercenaries and guards I killed tended to meet me with crude words, Russians excluded. The Russians sometimes gave me entire poems worth of swearing. Of course, I actually hanged back and waited for them to finish in cases like this as it was just plain rude to kill them before they finished their masterpiece. Still, it's a bit sad though, now that I think about it. I may have traveled the world but I haven't actually met and talked to the people of this world. Killed plenty but talking? Not so much…

A commotion on the roofs caught my attention. Sighing, I turned into an alley and jumped up onto the roof of the apartment building I was currently passing by. Looking around, I saw the massive dormitories of Shinto Teito university just a couple blocks away. Running on the roofs of the houses across the street from me were…

I rubbed my face with my palm. Of course this would happen. I mean, how could it not?

Not a single day in the city and she's already in trouble. And no, not just any kind of regular trouble, that damn girl somehow managed to get the two stripper clowns to chase after her. I watched as they ran off to a large alley and then the girl took a leap of faith…off the building.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath. Why does this kind of crap happen at least once every time I patrol? I questioned the heavens this before jumping across the street and dashing over to where the two clowns stood, blasting their lightning at a crowded alley. These morons are the reason why the MBI Secrecy Division has so much work and hates our kind with a passion. I don't even know how many billions SD had to dish out to get everyone to shut up about things that go on and to recompense any structural damage.

"What. Are. You. Doing." I strolled over to the duo, my steps punctuating my words. "In broad daylight."

"You!" The twins turned and paled severely.

"I see you are dressed as...uniquely as always." I surveyed their…outfits. Considering it's the Sekirei who pick their standard outfit and MBI merely acts as a supplier…their clothing choice tells everyone about them a lot. I don't even know how they can run around in this S&M leather that is practically a bunch of leather straps of various widths and lengths somehow put together.

"W-what do you want." The only way I found to tell the twins apart is their chest size. Well, that and their suits are slightly different colors but I kept mixing them up when I tried to do it by that so I just know that number 11, Hikari has a significantly larger bust then her sister number 12, Hibiki whose modest chest was practically the same size as mine. Damn, now that I think about it, just how many times did I run into them to actually start differentiate them like so?

"You do realize it's a bright day with absolutely no clouds right." I stopped mere meters from them, merely a heartbeat away if I dashed. "You know that the rules currently prevent you from fighting in broad daylight in crowded areas during First Stage, so…what are you doing?"  
>"Screw the rules, we'll fight anyone we want whenever we want!" The short tempered Hikari blew up, as expected. Her sister on the other hand clamped her sister's mouth and bowed before me.<p>

"Sorry, ignore her." Hikari tried to yell something but was muffled. "We'll not fight in crowded areas anymore."

"Hmm." I tilted my head at them before frowning and turning intangible just in time for a fire wave to pass through me.

"Homura." I turned to face the black clad, masked Sekirei who stood with his right hand still outstretched to me. "Nice to see you again."

"Rei." He sighed, foiled in his sneak attack once more. "On a patrol again?"

"Why yes." I ignored how the twins took the hint and fled. "I happened to see a girl today, someone I am very interested in."

"And I should care, because?" Homura glared at me warily.

"Because number 88, Musubi, is unwinged." I grin at the guy, not like he can see with my mask in the way. "And we all know about a certain fire-wielding Sekirei Guardian, mmm?"

"She ran away already while you distracted the twins." Homura finally let his hand fall down. "But you knew this already, didn't you?"

"Why would I distract them?" I cupped my chin and leaned back. "Maybe I just stopped by for a friendly chat like I am doing with you?"

"Tch." Homura turned and walked off the ledge.

"See you later Homura!" I shouted after him, a full sized grin on my face. I just loved messing around with the confused Sekirei, it was so much fun. I walked over to the edge and looked down upon the walking humans, most of them staring at two still smoking craters in the asphalt in confusion. Poor, pitiful humans of Shinto Teito, not aware that their beloved city will soon turn into a battlefield and then into a ruin, all thanks to the megalomaniac currently sitting in the MBI tower in the center of the city. They aren't aware that even now, Haihane and Kara are escorting wayward Ashikabi and their Sekirei into megapolis in the final preparations for the End of the First Stage.

Unaware, that their days of peace are running out like water through loose hands.


	18. Gate:Ashikabi

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Not sure what you're trying to accomplish here." I calmly stood on the road and stared at a floating figure before me as she tried to spear me with silky spears. I've been staring at her for good 15 minutes now; waiting for her to figure out that there's absolutely no way she can harm me as I am intangible for the Living while in Soul Form. Instead, she keeps trying and trying, using all sorts of techniques and variations of her power to hit me, all in complete silence.<p>

"Well, you can keep at it; I've got other things to do." I turned and walked through a solid wall of the nearby car parking tower, completely ignoring the sharp white strands. Sometimes, I hated phasing through solid objects because you can never be quite sure what's on the other side…or when you get to the other side. It's not a particularly bad thing, as I shouldn't truly care what is on the other side due to my intangibility but I've had situations where I'd walk in on a couple…doing things. Not a pleasant surprise for anyone involved in the situation.

This time it wasn't so bad. I've merely walked in absolute darkness for a couple minutes and then I found myself in what seemed like one of the many parks of Shinto Teito. Looking around, I could see a great big building beside the car parking tower and a light wooden fence in the distance, surrounding the park. Looks like this one was a private property type…where was I?

"Umm…are you a ghost?" I turned around to find a young girl in a white dress sitting in a wheelchair by a tree, looking at me in wonder.

"Hmm." I walked over to the small girl, towering over her. Strangely, she showed no fear and merely kept looking at me.

"Some call me Shinigami, human." I stated, deciding to mess around with the girl.

"Ah, so it's that time already?" She closed the book that lay on her lap and leaned back with a sigh. "It is such a pity that I'll never see my Uzume again…but I am ready, Shinigami. I knew I was dying for a long time so it's only fitting that you finally come for me."

Well…this is awkward. I must admit this is the first time my trolling ever backfired so badly on me. Go me, picking on a dying girl in a wheelchair. Damn I feel horrible.

"Who said I am here for you, child?" I knelt on one knee before her and suddenly, felt odd warmth spread throughout my body. Great, this little one is a Ashikabi too. Gods, her luck must be absolute shit, not only is she dying but she is also liable to get picked to be an Ashikabi for a Sekirei and then have to suffer through getting that bond cut.

"Then…why are you here?" She looked at me, confused.

"Don't know if you'd believe me," I smiled gently at her, sitting down. "But I was just passing through until you called me."

"Oh…Am I distracting you from your duties then?" She frowned. "I am sorry…I-"

"Don't worry about it." I remembered to lower my mask so she can see me smile. Considering I was in the Spirit Realm I wasn't risking anything. "Although I am a Shinigami, I don't have to chase after every single soul myself. Death finds all; I merely hunt down ones who have their appointment rescheduled to an earlier date."

It's fun to weave the truth in such an odd manner, I thought, I wasn't lying and yet... The girl smiled uncertainly at my words.

"By the way, do you know where we are?" I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. "I am afraid I took a short cut and ended up gods know where."

"Ah, this is Hiyamakai Hospital, I live here." She answered instantly.

Oh great, her sickness is bad enough that calls a hospital home. I stared at the gentle, fragile girl who sat before me calmly, obviously at peace with her situation.

"What about your parents?" I asked. "Isn't there anyone to care for you instead of staying here, in a hospital?"

"My parents are on the other side, waiting for me." She answered calmly. "The only one who stays with me nowadays is Uzume, my only friend."

"What is your name, human?" I asked, an odd emotion bubbling in my heart.

"Ah, where are my manners?" The little girl offered her hand. "I am Chiho Hidaka. Pleased to meet you."

I stared at her sincere smile. Just what is this girl who meets a ghostly being that introduces itself as the God of Death with a smile like that?

"I have many names; you can call me Rei or Shinigami." I let my hand stay over hers. "It's nice to meet you too, Chiho."

"Huh…I can't touch you." She observed, surprised as her hand phased through mine.

"Generally, when you can't touch a Shinigami," I repeated after Archive. "It's because it's not your time yet."

"Ah, I see!" She smiled, a bit of relief on her face. So she does have something to live for, I was growing worried to see her complete acceptance of death. A beeping noise sounded off on her watch and she glanced at it, frowning. "Oh, I have to go now."

I looked around to see no one and then looked at her questioningly.

"Shouldn't a nurse get you back?"

"It's fine." Chiho smiled. "I'll get back on my own, it's a bit hard but I can do it."

"Hmm." I hummed and stood up. "I'll escort you back then, wouldn't want something to happen that would cause you to cross the line before your time."

"I…thank you." She smiled at me brightly and began to use her hands to roll her wheelchair along. I watched as she struggled through, her bitten lip showing just how much this is costing her. I almost decided to intervene before I remembered my own awakening and how I denied the scientists from helping me. She wants to be strong, to live and to not be a cripple. Even now, as she struggles and breathes heavily to roll her wheelchair on the asphalt, she proves to everyone that she is not weak.

As we slowly made our way into the hospital and into the elevator, more than one nurse, doctor and patient either fainted on the spot or ran off screaming about ghosts. I grinned, as I put my mask back on, this was excellent fun, why haven't I done this before? Chiho also smiled at my obvious humour and gently laughed whenever someone fainted in a random way.

Her room was on the fifth floor, the window facing the park we just left. Her room was quite cosy, it was clear that someone lived here. The armada of plush toys standing at attention by the walls was a unique touch though I must admit.

"Uzume brings one each time she visits." Chiho told me as she got into her bed from her chair. I was surprised to see that she could actually walk, I thought she was paralyzed. But no, it seems like her legs are just far too weak to support her for more than a couple violently shaky steps. I have never seen a sickness, disease or injury like this, but then again, I am no doctor and we Sekirei don't get sick. At least, I've never heard of any sick Sekirei.

"Will you come again?" Chiho's voice broke me out of my thoughts, the owner putting aside a glass of water by a pill bottle. Clearly she just took her medicine.

"You know, most people would prefer to never see Shinigami again," I mused out loud. "Provided they survive the experience which very few have…"

"Well, it looks like many did today." She giggled. "Half the hospital in fact."

"Bah, they are all half way there anyway." I waved her argument aside. "But I'll visit you, I promise. More than once if I can manage it."

"Thank you…" Her voice was beginning to fade and she yawned. "Sorry, I-"

"Rest." I told her. "You'll see me again, I promised after all."

"Okay." She yawned once more and just like that, she was off to the land of dreams. I took a step forward and touched her forehead, dropping into the Living Realm for a second before instantly going back. I knew it; she was a very compatible Ashikabi. Just by being in the same realm as her, this close and on top of that touching her nearly sent me to my knees. I placed my hand over my armoured chest, feeling my heart beat heavily. It would seem as if fate has it in for me. Who would've thought that my Ashikabi would be a girl sitting on the edge between the Living Realm and the Spirit Realm? Hmm, it seems like Kara was right, I truly am into girls.

"Are you number 51, Rei the Reaper?" A couple of obvious Sekirei stood before me the moment I phased through the door to Chiho's room.

"Are you the strippers I ordered?" I asked, my eyes surveying their ridiculous clothing. Hikari and Hibiki were both prudes of the highest caliber compared to these 2.

"Nice." The one with short dark hair smirked while her companion with long dark green hair and a quarterstaff huffed.

"Higa wishes to speak to you."

"And do I wish to speak to him?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, he does own this hospital…" The short haired on lifted her eyes to the ceiling and whistled innocently.

"You do realize I can simply walk up to Higa, kill him and then walk away, right?" I deadpanned after checking that yes, I was in fact in Soul Form.

"You know, you got a point." The dark green haired woman nodded. "I am not sure why he'd want to invite the Reaper when it's clear he's going to get horribly murdered but who am I to speculate? I am merely the messenger."

"…I like you." I tilted my head slightly at the greenhead. "What's your name?"

"I am number 16, Toyotama." She did a slight bow, her eyes never leaving mine.

"I am number 18, Ichiya." The other one smirked.

"I don't care to learn the names of trash." I quickly shot her down before turning to Toyotama who giggled at Ichiya's outrage. "Very well, I'll meet your suicidal Ashikabi."

"It would be nice if he was more or less in one piece after you leave." Toyotama asked me carefully as we stopped near a decorated door on the final floor of the hospital. "We kind of need him."

"So long as he doesn't actively try to get himself killed, you will have no worries." I glanced at the far from comforted greenhead.

"That's why I am worried." She sighed.

I smirked and walked right through the door to find myself in a business office, full of luxurious furniture that heavily hinted that whoever owns this is not your average clerk. Sitting behind a heavy wooden table with a touchscreen was a young man in a business suit and cold black eyes.

"Welcome, I am Higa Izumi." He got up and extended his hand. I must admit, I nearly laughed at the look on his face when I walked through both his hand then him and stopped by the glass wall which looked onto the city center and the MBI tower with it.

"I know who you are, so called Ashikabi of the East." I smiled to his uncomfortable reflection. "What I don't know is why I should tolerate your presence."

"I would like to offer a deal." He straightened his tie and walked over to stand behind me. "I know you've spent time with Chiho Hidaka today and that you care for her. It is so tragic that such a nice, wonderful-"

"I wonder, what would happen if I were to phase back into the Living Realm right now?" I wondered to myself as I still stared down on the city before me, my right sword currently lodged in Higa's body. "Would you merely miss a piece of your body or will it be forced to part aside to fit my blade?"

"I can heal her." Higa continued, deathly white, after gulping. "The sickness is difficult to cure and expensive but it can be done."

"Hmm." I withdrew my sword and sheathed it, my eyes shifting to Higa's reflection who was patting the place where he was pierced but seconds ago in wonder. "Continue."

"All I'll need is a few favour-wait!" He shouted his hands before him as I moved. "Just one favour and I will cure her!"

"What favour." I turned around to finally look at the pale Ashikabi.

"I need you to kill Hayato Mikogami." He proposed quickly.

"No." I turned back, losing interest.

"Why? He is nobody to you and you stand to heal your Ashikabi!"

"Because Minaka will never stand for it you fool." I sneered at his reflection. "This haori is not for show, imbecile."

"Then maybe I'll hold the favour?" Higa offered.

"You think I'll let a mere human hold power over me?" I turned to him once more as he backed away.

"B-but she is your Ashikabi!" He yelled in fright as he tripped over the carpet and fell.

"I have no Ashikabi." I stood over him, towered over him. "I need no Ashikabi."

"You are lucky you have such loyal Sekirei that plead for you, Higa." I said casually as I walked through the glass.


	19. Gate:Yukari

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>Thankfully, even though I decided to continue patrol while slowly heading towards home, there were no more incidents. Well, none that I decided to take part in, there were a couple brief fights between Sekirei that I saw but considering how fast they ended and the fact that both parties fled, I doubt it was more than an instinctual lash out at a surprise meeting. Still, I trailed both the incidents for a few minutes to ensure that nothing will happen of them.<p>

"Ah, sister Rei!" Beni ran into me as I opened the door to our suite. "You've returned! Did anything happen?"

"Well…" I held my chin. "Yes, something did happen but I'll wait till Kara and Haihane are here before I say what I saw."

"I see," Beni stepped aside to allow me entry. "Takami called and said she'll be arriving in a little bit, it seems like they are starting to shut the Kamikura Town down."

"I see." I said simply as I sat at the bar table and looked at Beni who sat opposing me. "It would seem that Minaka is in a hurry to get First Stage done and over with."

"I…I don't like this." Beni dipped her head into her arms. "I-we've suffered so much to keep our kind safe and now…"

"You've heard Akitsu." I took off my gauntlets and proceeded to ruffle Beni's hair. "So long as you don't pulverize them into Bloody Mist, they don't actually die. We can still revive them in the end."

"That's why I am afraid." Beni's head hit the table. "I am afraid that my fear will take me over again and when I come back I'll find nothing but Bloody Mist everywhere."

"Then don't fight them directly." I offered. "You know as well as I do that we trained your abilities to be area-of-effect. Simply hit the ground near them and the splash damage from debris and shockwaves should be more than enough to at least knock them out."

"And then what?" Beni lifted her head to stare at me with those smouldering red eyes of hers. "We are unwinged and thus we cannot use our prayer to remove their crest. We have to deal enough damage for the crest to break and this leads me straight back into my original problem!"

She stood up and began to pace, her head in her arms. I watched the clearly disturbed Sekirei with a frown. Beni was right; her direct abilities are Siege-level, something to be classified as Anti-Fortress according to some anime that Haihane kept trying to get us to watch. Fate something or other, I didn't really bother remembering the name but the classification system for abilities stuck around for a bit. Anyway, using abilities intended for leveling Fortifications on a single person was…not pretty. Even her basic abilities like Pulveriser would more than likely turn the target into nothing but a fine spray of bloody matter.

"Bring a knife with you." I suggested finally. "A Misericord or a stiletto would be good. A single strike to the heart will guarantee a level 3 Deactivation and it will be quick and merciful. Just make sure to aim first, wouldn't want to hit a Tama by accident."

"Hah, yea." Beni took a shallow breath with a shaky laugh. "Wouldn't want to accidentally do a level 5 instead of level 3."

"There, problem solved." I shrugged, opening a can of pop. "Use the debris and indirect shockwaves to knockout your opponent and, if forced, proceed to deactivate them with a merciful quick strike to the heart."

"If forced?" Beni sat down again, staring at me in confusion.

"Well yea." I shrugged. "It's not like anyone is forcing you to actually deactivate or kill Sekirei most of the time. Just knocking them unconscious should be enough until the later stages."

We sat for a while, Beni thinking about something, her eyes on her fists which opened and closed occasionally while I merely sat and drank. Takami was going to come over with 107 and 108, the last of the misplaced batch. She managed to wrestle a couple more months' worth of time for their development and final adjustments but Minaka insisted that they stay in the MBI Tower during this time. This was going to force Takami to travel all over the city for their training as their abilities happened to be too powerful to be used in proximity to MBI Tower. I heard that the first time number 107, Shiina used his powers he turned most of the Initiation stadium into dust. Given time and effort, the male Sekirei would grow up to be a fearsome opponent with wide area disintegration attacks.

Amusingly enough, number 108, Kusano, who is Shiina's best friend has the power to grow plant life anywhere and everywhere she deems fit. Hell, I think the first time I've seen Akitsu distressed was on her Initiation. She somehow managed to grow a gigantic jungle inside the Initiation Stadium which is barren rock and nothing else. It took MBI forever to clean it up or so Akitsu complained. When Shiina had his initiation right after they finished cleaning up the stadium, I've heard Akitsu raged for the first time in her life. Thankfully, 108 was the last so the poor workers didn't have to clean up the gigantic iceberg that the Initiation Stadium was turned into.

Both 107 and 108 are going to be mighty fine Sekirei when – if - they grow up and train their power. I've noticed one simple thing over the past 3 and half years. Those Sekirei who train and push the limits on their powers become far stronger than those who are fine with using what they have. It is for this simple reason that Kara is currently the strongest Sekirei. Well, it's not quite true; she's merely the strongest in single combat. As it stands, Beni is probably the strongest Siege-Type Sekirei capable of leveling buildings with a single blow.

It's a bit funny but while Kara could kill Beni in less than 10 seconds – most of which would be chasing down Beni as she ran away screaming – but she couldn't reliably destroy a fortification or a building. Beni on the other hand is a bit too slow to viably fight in duels but give her a stationary target like a building or a fortress or a bunker and it's going to be reclassified as debris in seconds.

All things considered, I rather like our group composition right now. We have the unstoppable juggernauts like Kara with Beni and an assassin-like Haihane. I acted either as a distraction or as damage sponge, allowing my team to get to the targets. It's a pity none of us have any true ranged attacks but with our speed only someone who is actually capable of flying is a threat and as far as I know only Kazehana can do that. I was also far too dangerous to leave alone, after all, where Kara was the captain I was her faithful lieutenant for a reason. Kara and I occasionally had our students pick one of us to gang up on and try to defeat the person they picked. Amusingly enough, they picked Kara a lot more often than me because she was far less frustrating to fight against.

Sure Kara's skill made it impossible for them to even touch her but at least they could try. With me though, they couldn't be sure that I'd merely let them pass through me only to phase straight back into Living World to attack them with their back to me. Fighting me one on one was a nightmare because of this and only due to quick reactions and superb teamwork Haihane and Beni managed to stay 'alive' longer than a couple minutes in our spars.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by my phone ringing. Or rather my earpiece I guess, as I had my phone integrated into the collar of my armour and only my Bluetooth headpiece actually showed outside, masked as a small earring. It took me a long time to find a design I approved of and now my headpiece looked like a tiny black nodachi with red edges. Kara was very receptive of the design and showed me just how much she appreciated it that night.

"I am listening." One problem with my earpiece is that I never knew just who was actually calling me.

"Hey Rei." Takami's voice came through. "Listen, I've got a personal request to ask of you."

"Go on." I frowned. This would be the first time Takami actually asked me to do a personal request.

"My daughter is arriving to Shinto Teito today and I am currently very busy with Shiina and Kusano." She sounded hesitant as if still wondering if this is a good idea. "I was going to have Akitsu pick her up but there was an incident back in Kamikura and she is currently overseeing the morons there."

"You want me to pick up your daughter and escort her through the city." I replied, this request wasn't all that unnatural to be honest, I knew Takami loved her kids and was rather protective of them. "You do realize that it is quite possible that she is at least a latent Ashikabi, right?"

"It's…her life." Takami sad voice answered. "I tried to get her to pick another University but she insisted on the Shinto Teito one and wouldn't take no for an answer. I on the other hand couldn't tell her why going here is a bad idea."

"Secrecy and what not." I nodded to thin air as Beni looked at me weirdly. "What if I show a reaction?"

"That's why I phoned you. I know that if you react than you have the ability to deny it by going to Spirit Realm."

"Your daughter is going to have a lot of questions for you if I phase into Soul Form in front of her." I laughed, imagining the picture.

"I'll deal with it." Takami sighed. "Well? Will you do it?"

"Of course Takami." I smiled. "Do you really expect me to deny you your first request ever? Not a chance. Send her picture and detail to Beni's phone though; I am sure you know why."

"Yea yea, I still say you should let us put a holo-projector into that armour." Takami grumbled and I heard a series of tapping in the background. "There, sent, now I need to go call my wayward son… Thank you Rei."

"Not a problem Takami." I ended the conversation and turned to Beni who rolled her eyes but gave me her phone. So, Yukari Sahashi, age 18, is arriving to the Shinto Teito Maglev train station at 5:00 so in about an hour. She looked very different from her gray haired mother to be honest. In fact, I don't think I'd ever think they were related if it wasn't for this picture where she's standing smiling by Takami's side and her mother's request. She also seemed slightly shorter than her mother according to this but the difference was negligible.

I sent the email to the printer and handed the phone back to Beni with thanks.

"Are you really going to go meet an Ashikabi?" Beni looked at me oddly.

"I've met two so far today." I said absentmindedly as I checked the printed sheet to see that it was correct. "What's one more?"

"But what if you react?" I turned to notice Beni stare with me, an unknown expression on her face.

"Then there will be another ghost story in Shinto Teito." I smiled and reached over to ruffle her hair. "Don't worry, nothing will happen. Stay here and wait for my return."

"Alright." Beni saw me off to the door and waved goodbye.

* * *

><p>"Attention, train arriving. Caution: Train." A calm female voice announced and pushed myself from the wall I was leaning on and walked over to the mostly empty train station. It was practically rush hour but not quite, so aside from me there were maybe half a thousand people as opposed to a thousand. With a soft electrical hum and a rush of air the maglev train shot by, decelerating to a distance away. I, not knowing where my target was, stood directly in the center, my height allowing me to see the whole hundred meter long train station with ease.<p>

Now that I stop to think about it, this might be quite difficult as the doors opened and a flood of humans came out. Just how the hell was I supposed to find 1 with only a picture to go off of? Even though this was far from rush hour traffic, there were just far too many people in this place for me to find one. I began to feel panic; failing Takami was never an option. As I searched about I felt someone pull at my haori and turned to find a small girl staring up at me with awe, a large bag in her hand.

"Are you Rei?" She asked, her head pointing practically upwards because we stood so close.

"Are you Yukari Sahashi?" I turned to face her as she let go of my haori. "Daughter of Takami?"

"Yep, that's me!" She did a weird pose and then roamed over me with her eyes. "Say…just how tall are you?"

"Last I checked it was 203 centimetres, why?" I raised an eyebrow at her question. Very few actually bothered to ask me my exact height. They just went 'whoa, tall' and that was it.

"You are huge." She said seriously. "Are you really a woman?"

"…" I glanced at myself. I must admit it might be a bit hard to tell with the haori acting as a drape that covered my armour from view and thus, my body. But I thought I looked female enough, my face anyway. Except that my mouth and cheeks were covered with a mask… "Yes."

"Sorry, it's a bit hard to tell." The girl apologized. "I only have your voice and half the face to go off of."

"It is not a problem." I sighed. "Takami asked me to accompany you as Akitsu cannot."

"You know aunt Akitsu?" Yukari stared at me in wonder with those dark blue eyes of hers. "Then you must be working for MBI too?"

"Yes." I tilted my head slightly. "You know that Takami works for MBI?"

"Mother said that she and aunt Akitsu both work for MBI pharmaceutical division and that is where she met Akitsu." Yukari shrugged, the information obviously not meaning anything to her. "Anyway, we should probably get going, I need to drop by my brother's place and give him clothes."

"Clothes?" I asked as we began to walk towards the exit, people parting way before me as always.

"Yea, he phoned me earlier today randomly and asked me to bring my clothes." Yukari answered cheerfully. "I guess he got lonely, that pervert."  
>"…"<p>

"I am joking." Yukari laughed at my raised eyebrows. "I don't actually know why he needs my clothes but I doubt it's for a bad reason."

"Right…" I sighed as we walked on. "What can you tell me about your brother?"

"Ah, he's very smart and incredibly kind!" Yukari told me dreamily as we walked through the streets. "But he's also too kind for his own damn good and his nerves can't handle pressure at all…it's sad a bit, really, because he's so smart but he failed twice now in getting into the University here. Something about his mind shutting down from the exam atmosphere."

"That is quite unfortunate." I agreed with her. "If he can't handle as little as that the world will eat him up alive."

"Brrr." She shook herself. "I'd hate for that to happen to my stupid but very lovable brother."

As we walked, our conversation somehow jumped from her brother, to history, to sciences, to Yukari's dreams of working with her mother to her perverted fantasies about Akitsu – I've had to smack her lightly on her head here to wake her up from a daydream as she began to salivate, I was rather creeped out. Thankfully, at this point we reached our destination, a typical apartment building. To my surprise, an MBI delivery van drove off from parking right as we walked up to it. I began to have slight suspicions at this point. What seems like a typical quiet student suddenly phones her sister and asks her to bring him her old clothes out of nowhere. Than an MBI delivery van drives off right before we reach his house. Perhaps in other conditions this would've meant nothing but now…in Shinto Teito…I think I know what we are about to find in the room of this Minato Sahashi. Or rather, whom.

"We are here!" Yukari struck another pose, dropping her bag on the ground. "Let's find out what my brother is up to!"

"Lead the way." I ignored her weird behaviour.


	20. Gate:Sahashi

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Brother, I am here!" Yukari just straight up walked into a room that I guess is her brother, ignoring the common curtesy of knocking. "I am surprised; I'd have thought you'd live all alone and dirty."<p>

"Yukari?!" A male voice asked incredulously.

"Yep! You should be more careful, your door was open." She gave a light hearted laugh.

"W-why are you here?"

"…Didn't you ask me to bring clothes?" Yukari asked him, surprised. "And anyway, is this how you treat your precious little sister you haven't seen for a year?"

"I-"

"Although to be honest I am here because I got accepted into the Shinto Teito University but I kind of didn't want to rub this in your face."

"You just did!"

"Oups." Yukari laughed. "Hey, so who is this here with you?"

I knew it, I thought as I took a deep breath. Takami is going to be pissed…

"Yukari, is everything alright?" I walked in, finding Yukari standing beside fairly tall man who…wait…I've seen this guy earlier today. "You…?"

"Ah! The person I ran into this morning!" The young man exclaimed. "I am so sorry about running off before I learned your name."

"Ah, Lady Rei!" Now this voice I definitely know. "It's nice to see you again!"

"Hello, Musubi." I nodded my head slightly. "I see you found who you were looking for?"

"Yep!" Musubi grabbed her Ashikabi by the hand, the poor guy turning red as he found his hand buried deep in her cleavage.

"You two know each other?" Yukari stared in confusion between us. "Does she work for MBI too?"

"No." I silenced Musubi with a glance. "We merely met each other before, nothing more."

"Musubi you know this person?" Minato turned to his Sekirei and whispered to her, trying to be inconspicuous but failing terribly.

"Yep! Lady Rei is very strong and she helped me before and she's a very good friend of Lady Karasuba!" Excitable Musubi as always didn't bother lowering her voice. "Oh wait. Isn't this where dis-cre-tion is used…or something?"

"Erm, yes I guess." Minato tried to laugh it off even as Yukari stared at the duo suspiciously. Thankfully, he was saved by his cell phone that rang out, breaking the growing tension.

"Who is she, really?" Yukari whispered to me…as much as she could whisper anyway with me being a head and a half taller.

"She is Musubi and trust me, that is all you need to know." I silently tried to convey to her that it's best she doesn't keep digging. Her brother is already in this mess, Takami will go berserk if her daughter winds up involved too.

"Hmph. Fine." She pursed her lips together and then bounced over to Musubi. "Hi, I am Yukari, Minato's sister!"

"I am Musubi!" Musubi looked like she wanted to add more but then caught herself and laughed nervously.

"I see," Yukari narrowed her eyes at Musubi, studying her clothes even as the hapless Sekirei stood there, completely lost. I smirked beneath my mask. To think Yume's container is so helpless…it's ironic.

"We are going shopping!" Yukari suddenly called out, interrupting Minato's phone conversation and my own musing.

"Huh? Wait, then I'll come to-" Minato looked wildly over from his phone.

"Stupid brother, you can't come." Yukari grinned and suddenly was behind Musubi, groping her as the Sekirei squeaked. "There are stores only us girls can enter you know."

"Ooh…" Yukari's eyes rounded in shock even as Minato muttered to himself, not knowing what she was talking about. "What size is this, F? G? These are huge…"

"Anyway, I am borrowing Musubi for a bit, see you later brother!" And just like that we were suddenly standing on the street before a red Minato.

"Be careful, it's your first time here." The boy called to Yukari, worry in his eyes.

"Tch, I already have Rei here for that." Yukari muttered as we walked on. "It's frustrating how he treats me like a kid."

"Oh? And weren't you calling yourself his little sister just minutes ago?" I grinned, Takami's kids were funny.

"Whatever." Yukari frowned as we walked on.

"Minato is a really gentle person." Musubi smiled dreamily.

"Well…true," Yukari grumbled. "But aside from that he's got no redeeming points."

"My adjuster told me once," Musubi looked to the sky with a smile. "There is no strength or will without gentleness as being gentle is the hardest thing. I really like gentle Minato."

We were silent for a minute after that, Yukari slowly reddening while I smiled, looking into the sky. It seems like Musubi is a truly a fitting vessel for Yume, her persona…I think if Yume was to take an apprentice like me and Kara, it would be no other than Musubi.

"I…I actually like that about him too." Yukari finally whispered, more to herself than anyone else. After looking up to see us both stare at her she reddened further before stating.

"Erm, but beside that he's just a bum." She laughed, rubbing her hair in embracement. "Still, I am envious; I'd like a boyfriend too…"

"Well, there are a few male Sekirei…"

"Musubi." I interrupted her sternly.

"Ah, sorry!" She waved her hands in surrender before frowning. "This dis-cre-tion thingy is really hard…"

"…" I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed as Yukari stared at us suspiciously.

"Now I really know there's something going on!" She accused us. "What is it?"

"Yukari." I stared at her heavily causing for the small girl to flinch and take a step back. "Stop, poking into this business. If you get involved, Takami will kill you. For real."

"Ah! This also came with these clothes!" Musubi suddenly pulled out an MBI card from a pocket within her dress. "We use this to buy stuff…I think."

"An MBI member card? A gold one too?" Yukari stared at it with surprise. These cards were extremely rare; in fact there were only 107 of them in existence. "Just who are you, Musubi…"

I tilted my head to stare at Yukari who laughed nervously and rubbed her head.

"Right, never mind. Let's go!"

As we walked on I saw someone in front of me that I definitely did not expect. I sped up slightly to walk in front of Yukari and Musubi so I could defend them if need be.

"Kazehana."

"Why, if it isn't the Reaper." The woman in the provocative Chinese dress and a bottle in her hands stood before me. "Long time, no see."

"I see they even got you to come too, huh." My hands just happened to touch my swords beneath my haori.

"Whatever, I don't care." Kazehana looked at me, irritated. "Let them try and catch the wind."

"Hmm." I relaxed and turned away. "It would be for the best if they couldn't catch the wind for as long as possible. Good luck, 3rd."

"Hmph." She strode away, not bothering to look behind, her long black hair gently floating in the wind.

"Who was-" It took a single glance from me to get Yukari to shut up. "Just what is going on in this city…damn secrets all over the place!"

"So…my mother sends someone called The Reaper as my escort in the city." Yukari muttered, clutching her head in frustration as both Musubi and I looked at her, Musubi curiously while I was just plain amused. "Just who the hell is my mother?!"

"Ah, Takami is-" Finding my heavy, gloved hand on her shoulder Musubi giggled nervously. "Never mind! Shutting up now!"

"And now there's a ton of MBI helicopters in the sky too." Yukari glanced upward. "Somehow I think my mother got you to act as my handler, not my guide…so many secrets that are so far…"

I merely grinned on, this was fun.

* * *

><p>"…" I stared at the lingerie Yukari was shoving into my face. "I don't use those."<p>

"What?" The small woman stared at me incredulously. "You don't wear underwear?"

"I wear panties." I calmly replied. "But I have no need of this 'bra' you are offering."

"No way." She stared at me. "Are they really that small? I feel sorry for you now."

"They are roughly your size; I just never found the need to use this piece of cloth you are offering to me." I explained to her patiently. "I wear a suit that offers me all of the support I'll ever need."

"Right…" She still stared at me weirdly.

"Why are we here?" I asked her, trying to guide her back to our original purpose.

"Ah!" She spun and locked onto Musubi. "Musubi! Try this!"

"Eh?!"

* * *

><p>"Somehow I think Minato is going to curse you tonight." I stated as we walked towards Yukari's friend's place where she will be staying tonight.<p>

"Hehe, or maybe he'll thank me tomorrow morning, hmm?" She rubbed her hands deviously, her face dangerously red.

"Even I saw enough of your brother to know that he's not ready for that." I sighed. "And as you saw, Musubi is missing some…valuable life knowledge to initiate first contact."

"Damn. You're right." Yukari smacked her fist into her hand. "I did not think of that."

"I hope your first day here was enjoyable." I stopped at the fence of the house she was about to walk in.

"Tch, with all of these damn secrets everywhere…" Yukari growled as she turned to me on the other side of the fence. "And the worst part is I can't even go after them…"

I laughed as she hanged her head in defeat and then reached over and ruffled her hair.

"Some secrets may cost you your life little human." I reached up and removed my mask for the first time, grinning widely. "Perhaps it would be for the best if you don't look too carefully for them, mmm?"

Yukari in turn stared at my face, seeing it clearly for the first time.

"Good bye, Yukari." I waved lazily and headed off home, my grin still on my face.

"Human…" I heard her mutter, my grin stretching even wider. "Mother, what the hell did you get into…?"

* * *

><p>"I am sorry, Rei." Beni sniffled as we both stared through a window. "I…I tried to get there as fast as I could but-"<p>

"Enough, Beni." I turned my gaze to her and brought her to my chest causing the smaller Sekirei to squeak in surprise. "You saved Takami that is all that matters."

"B-"

"Silence." I ordered my faithful student, hugging her closer. "As I said, that is all that matters. We will find whoever did this and then we will make them pay. But for now…"

I looked at Takami's broken form, doctors dashing about with machinery doing everything they could to save her life. Even now, lying unconscious and heavily injured she caused MBI employees to run amok in panic with her sheer presence. I couldn't help but smirk, only Takami…although. I glanced at Akitsu standing beside us, who came the instant she heard the news, I bet Akitsu would be the same if she was ever on a surgery table.

While I was busy acting like a guide and bodyguard to Yukari, Takami took number 108, Kusano to the training ground in MBI Botanical Garden. However, a short while after they've arrived, someone attacked the training ground. The guards did their best but the result is 23 corpses sliced to pieces, missing Kusano and about a dozen grievously injured people left for dead, Takami included. Minaka sent reinforcements, led by Beni, the moment word of attack reached but they came too late.

In the destruction that the attackers and the defending Kusano wrought upon the Garden, no records whatsoever remained of what actually happened. The current theory is that a Sekirei with a sharp weapon or powers that caused slicing wounds attacked Kusano and everyone else just got in the way. There's no real proof of this however as practically everyone but Takami died before they could be stabilized and now the only witnesses left were Takami and a couple mangled guards in a medical coma.

At first I was raring to go on site and investigate but its currently night and I would be of absolutely no use there. However, Akitsu and I agreed to go together tomorrow afternoon after Akitsu puts all of Takami's and her own things in order. Until then though, we could do nothing but wait and look through the glass as the doctors scramble to pull Takami from the other side…in fact.

"What do you see?" Akitsu asked me softly as I shifted into Soul Form.

"I-I can see her spirit's flames." I said in a pained tone. "But it's growing faint, it seems like the doctors are winning this fight."

Indeed, I could see the blue flame of Takami's soul but no actual orb as that was still within the center of her chest. Thankfully, the flames withered and faded, the body greedily sucking them back in and I knew, that she was going to be fine now.

"We finished stabilizing her." A doctor walked out and collapsed to sit against the wall. "But god damn that was a close one."

"When will she awake?" Akitsu asked the worry for her Ashikabi practically material in her voice.

"Well, I'd say in a couple days." The doctor gave a tired laugh. "But I wouldn't be surprised if she wakes up in an hour and starts yelling at us for not doing our jobs perfectly enough."

The four of us laughed at that, the tension finally leaving us feeling weak in the knees.

"Come on Beni." I pulled my student with me. "We both need rest after shit like this."

I don't know about Beni, but I need a lot of alcohol after this. This incident scratched at the barely healed wound that was losing Yume for me. I almost lost another important person and again, I couldn't even fucking do anything about it. It frustrated me to no end and the only reason I appeared so calm on the outside is because I knew, without doubt, that heads will roll for this. I will ensure it.


	21. Gate:Forest

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"…"<p>

"…"

"Why do I keep waking up with people in my bed?" I groaned, my headache killing me.

"Is this how Karasuba wound up in your bed?" A soft voice spoke beside me, the owner of said voice lying flat against me, her cool body feeling extremely pleasant to touch.

"Actually no." I sighed, my eyes on the roof of my room. "I ended up in Kara's bed rather than the other way around."

"I see." Akitsu calmly stood up and began to hunt for her clothes which were all over the room, her pale body bathed in the morning light, drawing my eyes to her.

"I don't remember much…" She turned to me and smiled a little, a faint blush on her cheeks. "But I liked it, thank you Rei."

A phone ring raised me out of stupor and I saw Akitsu bend over, reaching for her phone and the sight of her perfect long legs and firm shapely behind freezing me in my bed again.

"Takami?" Akitsu asked, her voice laced with desperation and longing. "Are you alright?!"

"What?" I immediately stood up and practically teleported over to Akitsu's side, all headache and my overall nakedness forgotten. "Is she-?"

Akitsu merely handed me the phone, her eyes roaming over my body with a faint blush back on her cheeks.

"Takami?! Are you alright?" I asked my voice suddenly hoarse.

"Yes, Rei." She said back tiredly. "I am fine but the doctors say it will be at least a week before I can get out of here. Now, can you please hand the phone over to Akitsu?"

"Wait, who was the one who did this to you?" Although my relief was as noticeable as Akitsu's I still needed to know the culprit.

"Going to go after her, huh?" Takami sighed. "She never introduced herself. It was some Sekirei with a scythe and I don't remember who she was so she's probably one of the first ones to be released."

"Damn, that isn't giving me much." I began to pace, my phone in my hand, Akitsu's eyes on my moving body.

"That's not what's important right now." Takami coughed. "F-find Kusano. The last thing I remember is that Kusano managed to beat her back with the growth she made. She's probably still in that Garden, waiting for us to save her."

"I…I understand." I closed my eyes briefly and stopped moving. "I will do it."

"Good, now…tell Akitsu to come see me when she can, I have much to pass onto her seeing as I am bed locked for now." Takami grumbled.

Rubbing my forehead I gave the phone back to Akitsu who finally stopped devouring me with her eyes, her face redder than I've ever seen it and told her Takami's request. Akitsu nodded and quickly finished dressing. I also put on my tracksuit, ready to go for morning practise and then I'll go off and search for Kusano.

"Rei…"

"?"

I stared at Akitsu as she disappeared from my room and closed the door, still feeling her cool lips on mine. She must've really liked what we did here last night…and Kara is going to murder me. I practically cried at this thought. Gods damn my unnatural habit of waking up with other women in my or their beds!

Hang on, but then I would've never been as close as I am to Kara now would I… You know what, gods? Thank you for this amazing habit! Except that I am still going to die when Kara arrives tomorrow. Hmm, dilemma. I cannot not tell her about Akitsu. I may not feel to her what I feel for Kara but I am definitely drawn towards her. And judging by her reaction, she feels the same. I wonder what Kara would decide. After all, I am by far not the leading one in this relationship.

* * *

><p>"Lady Rei!" The MBI captain on scene snapped to a salute and all of the soldiers patrolling the area did the same.<p>

"At ease, captain." I waved the formalities aside; I didn't come here for this. Somehow a bunch of random work piled up on me today with Minaka constantly bugging me to do stupid stuff. By the time I managed to get away and head over to the Botanical Gardens it was evening already!"Instead, give me a report on the situation in general and the search in detail."

"Yes milady." The man nodded and took a tired breath. "We've secured the area the moment we arrived with Lady Benitsubasa yester-evening. There is currently 4 companies standing guard at gates and two more are patrolling the inside, guarding the investigators."

"So far, we've just finished recovering all of the bodies and body parts of our fallen comrades and the investigators are compiling a report right as we speak." The man continued before turning and offering me to walk with him. "We've also spotted several Sekirei prowling on the outskirts, looking for a way in. So far they've avoided probing our defences, praise the gods."

"What sort of equipment do you have on site?" I asked as we walked to the tent where the investigators were. "Why do I not see any Specialists here?"

"Unfortunately all we have are regular soldiers and light armour." The captain frowned. "As you see, we are practically defenceless against any Sekirei who will actually attack so I am very relieved that someone like you is here."

"Strange." I muttered to myself as we walked into the tent. "Something doesn't add up here…"

Specialists are humans of extreme renown and skill that MBI collects to form a separate platoon. They are few, very few, maybe less than 50 total, I am not sure. However, each Specialist is capable of going toe to toe with an average Sekirei and, if not buy time, then at least not die in seconds. They are led by captains who are legends in their own rights. Currently, MBI has 4 Specialist Captains; they still haven't found a replacement for Dietrich. I only know their first names though: Leroy, the acting Commander, Anton the 2nd Captain, Mathew the 3rd Captain and Andromeda the 4th Captain.

Generally, unless the Disciplinary Squad is on scene, all MBI squads expected to run into Sekirei are reinforced with at least a handful Specialists if not a Captain. So to see something big like this guarded only by MBI grunts is…ridiculous. It's almost as if all of these people are thrown away as bait. Hmm, that would actually make sense. Perhaps they are to be as bait while there is a Specialist squad somewhere in vicinity, ready to pounce at first opportunity. Still, I am not particularly keen on having humans loyal to our cause die for nothing.

"Sir! Milady!" A young looking soldier standing guard on the inside gave a salute, alerting 6 people who were pouring over piles of paper of our presence.

"Ah, Lady Rei." The eldest of these people, a man in his 50s wearing an MBI ID uniform bowed before me. "We've been expecting you."

"What have you found?" I strolled over to the table and glanced at the papers. Hmm, heavily drawn on maps, tons of what seemed like reports, a few satellite images…

"We have estimated the position of 108, Kusano." The man picked up a map practically buried beneath scribbles and markings and then pointed at a small area shaded in red. "We believe that she is currently in this area. Of course, we haven't actually scouted the area in fear of either startling the little one or if she's hostile then I fear it will only serve to be the death of the scouts."

"Good work, gentlemen." I grabbed the map and studied it intently before carefully wrapping it up and putting it into the pocket of my coat. "Your work here is done, wrap up camp and-"

"Captain! Sir! Come in!" The MBI captain who was conversing with the guard in low tones got startled and then reached for the radio. "North Gate has been breached; I repeat, 2 Sekirei have destroyed the North Gate!"

"Tell them to secure what's left; I am moving out to them." I ordered the captain before turning to the aged ID operative. "Pack up the camp and evacuate. This is an order."

Not even bothering to listen to anything else the humans have to say, I shifted into Soul Form and began sprinting to North Gate. I like going to places while in Soul Form, it's so much faster when you simply don't care about anything in your way. Within several minutes I was at North Gate which was directly opposite of the main MBI camp which was at South Gate.

"Put down your weapons you imbeciles!" An injured officer who sat by a burning armored transport called out to the half a dozen soldiers who still moved amongst the wreckage of machinery and moaning bodies. "Lady Rei, I am glad to see you here."

"What happened here?" I walked over to the officer who was currently being bandaged up by a medic, my haori billowing amongst the flames of the scene. How familiar this was to me…I stopped before the officer, listening to the crackle of flames, moans and cries from the soldiers and the faint howl of the wind.

"About 5 minutes ago our position was approached by what we thought were 2 young women at first." The officer coughed. "However, before we could so much as take proper aim as per standard procedure, we were blasted by a lightning bolt which chained through the armoured transports, igniting them. In the following explosions and chaos, we could do nothing to stop them from entering with 2 males with them. Thankfully, no one actually died."

"I see." I nodded. "Evacuate the scene, your job is over. The place has been breached and will soon turn into a battle zone where humans like you can do nothing but die."

"I understand, milady." The officer stood up with the help of the medic and began calling his men to him in preparation for evacuation.

I was about to go inside before stopping and turning 180 degrees.

"You are not the one who did this, Homura." Before me stood Homura with Musubi by his side who looked lost. "But if you attack, I will not be able to ignore you."

"You…" Homura stared at me, fire slowly crackling about his hands. "Why are you here?"

"What do you mean why?" I stared at him like at an idiot. "I am here to pick up investigation into Takami's attacker and to recover 108."

"What?" Homura straightened up, confused, his fire gone out. "What do you mean recover 108? Minaka sent a mass email several hours ago saying that the girl was first come first serve."

"…"I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "I see, it makes sense to me now. And you are here to ensure that only her True Ashikabi comes for her."

Seeing him nod, I stepped aside.

"Get going, I'll oversee evacuation and then I'll come myself." Homura stared at me for a moment before he and Musubi ran through the wreckage and into the gardens.

"East Gate is under attack! I repeat East Gate-" The transmission from one of the radios lying on the ground cut off in a scream.

"This is Rei," I picked up the radio. "East Gate, withdraw."

"It's a bit too late for that." A girly laughter came through the radio before cutting out as I crushed the thing in anger. What the fuck was Minaka thinking? These men…he just sent them all here to die! I shifted back into Soul Form and sprinted to East Gate, arriving there in under a minute to find a kid and…

"Hello, Rei." Mutsu slowly drew his sword. "I've been looking forward to meeting you again."

"You…are you the one who killed all of these men?" I looked at the mutilated bodies and burning transports, some of them with great slash marks on their armour.

"No, that would be number 43, Yomi." Mutsu admitted easily. "She's currently inside recovering 108 for us."

"Mutsu, get her already, I want her in my collection!" Hayato Mikogami, a 15 year old kid who thought he ended up in a real game. If Minaka hadn't specifically ordered us to leave the Ashikabi alone, I'd have gone after this damn kid's head that treated his Sekirei like toys.

"And what makes you think I won't just leave?" I asked, still in Soul Form.

"Because then we'd go after the MBI main camp, it's only about 10 minutes away anyway." The kid smiled.

"You know…" I shifted to Living Realm. "I've been thinking about killing you for a long time, Hayato Mikogami. But I couldn't, because the rules forbid it."

"That's right! So Mutsu-" The kid started something but I merely talked over him.

"However, if you were to be caught in an area-of-effect technique accidentally, then that would be merely an accident, wouldn't it?" I pulled out my swords and began walking to the rapidly paling kid. "So easy to cover up in a battle…"

"Y-you wouldn't…"

"Master!" Mutsu dashed forward just in time to block my blade which was about to slice off Hayato's head. "Get back! Now!"

I merely switched target to the Sekirei standing before me and began to hack at him, rapidly increasing my speed. Kara had told me about Mutsu, the Earthbender Sekirei who could cause earthquakes and move the earth. It was imperative to get him on pure defence so he couldn't use any of his abilities.

Surprisingly, his sword skill with that nodachi was rather poor – compared to Kara anyway - and so far only his speed and reflexes were saving him from suffering more than shredded clothing. However, I couldn't allow this fight to keep going for much further, I needed to recover 108.

"Tch."Mutsu grimaced as my blade, empowered with Gate:Open, sliced through his sword and traced a line down his body, drawing first blood. Before I could follow up with another Gate:Open though, Mutsu executed a fast backflip and smashed the pommel of his sword on the ground.

"Smashing Point!" He called out and suddenly, cracks ran through the asphalt, destroying the area and charging towards me. I merely used the charged Gate:Open of my sword on myself and ignored the rumbling ground and the great chunks of asphalt flying all over the place. Now was a good time to get out of here, thanks to the chaos of Mutsu's attack. I dashed back towards the Garden, specifically the place shaded red on the map. After a couple minutes, I arrived to find a demolished clearing and a naked woman lying face down in the sliced moss. After turning her over and noticing complete lack of life, I guessed that this was a Sekirei who lost a fight and was terminated, most likely level 1 based on the lack of injuries.

"Well…what a pity." I stared at the corpse in disappointment, her broken scythe in my hands. So this is the one who attacked Takami and then the soldiers at East Gate. The types of wounds I've seen definitely fit with this sort of weapon. This must be number 43, Yomi…but if she's here, then where is everyone else? I glanced about and noticed a path heading north full of broken branches and trampled grass. They must've come through here I reasoned as I switched back to Soul Form and dashed to North Gate.

* * *

><p>"Homura."<p>

"Rei." Homura's hands lit up in orange flames, the rest of those behind him also preparing for a fight. I was rather surprised by the composition of the group before me. Homura, numbers 11 and 12, Musubi, and two humans one of which was carrying Kusano. I looked at him closer and found out that it was Minato Sahashi. Well, damn, this just made my job so much harder.

"Can you just let us through?" The thug looking Ashikabi of Hikari and Hibiki scratched his head and asked.

"I am here to recover number 108." I simply stated, still standing at the North Gate, cutting off the group's escape, Yomi's broken scythe in my hands. "It would be rather unfortunate if I'll have to kill you all to do it."

"But, there are 6 of us here." Minato tried to reason. "Surely you wouldn't want to fight odds like these?"

"Who said I'd have to fight?" I walked forward in my Soul Form, preparing to do Gate:Swap on Kusano.

"Wait!" Homura dashed before me and extinguished his fire. "Minato is her Ashikabi. A True one!"

I paused and stared at the Sekirei Guardian. Well, this piece of information just changed everything. I tilted my head in thought, on one hand I can still do my mission and get 108 to Takami or I can let them go and I am pretty sure Takami would understand.

"Where do you live?" I turned to Minato. It was rather sad but I forgot where the poor guy lived so I couldn't come and check later on Kusano's condition.

"At Izumo Inn." Minato answered readily, looking at my hazy, see-through form with fear.

"Ah, then everything is fine." I turned and began walking straight through the forest towards the MBI tower. "Bye bye."

"You're just going to walk away like this?" The thug Ashikabi asked incredulously, his Sekirei staring at him like he was a madman.

"Why not?" I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder, stopping my walk. "Miya will take care of her better than MBI will."

"You got a point there." The thug rubbed his stubby beard with a thought.

"Although, thank you for reminding me." I turned to face the thug Ashikabi. "Hikari, Hibiki, you 2 are incredibly lucky today."

"Huh?" The twins exchanged glances with their Ashikabi.

"When you attacked the North Gate, you didn't kill anyone." I continued. "As the Disciplinary Squad, we are in charge of making sure all rules are followed. Especially ones like where you shouldn't attack MBI, civilians and Ashikabi."

"Yet you've killed dozens of civilians." Homura stated, causing Minato to look at me in horror.

"I've killed human trash." I denied the allegations. "Bandits, rapists that sort of thing. Trash doesn't count as civilians."

"Even if said trash are Ashikabi." I added after a second's worth of thought.

"Y-you killed an Ashikabi?" Now Minato really paled.

"Considering I prevented that trash from forcing itself on one of my kin, I think I did a good thing." I replied. "That and because he didn't wing her, he wasn't an Ashikabi technically yet."

"Anyway, I got an evacuation to oversee." I am waved carelessly at them and walked off through the forest, ignoring the physical objects as usual.

"How can she just walk through things!?" Minato asked the thug as I began to walk away.

"That is the power of number 51, the Reaper…"


	22. Gate:Izumo

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"A-Akitsu! I-"<p>

"Shh." A cool finger touched my lips even as the other danced across my stomach. "You and I both wanted this."

"Bu-" Before I could protest more I was silenced with lips that tasted like a delicious snow cone. And just like that, all and any defence I got literally melted away and I grabbed the bountiful woman into my grasp, deepening the kiss…

I dipped my head down as I sat on the ledge of a random building in the East part of Shinto Teito. I swear, I have no idea what to do now. It's rather funny but women are going to be the death of me.

When I reported the situation to Takami she laid there, quiet, smoking one cigarette after another for quite a while. I guess it's hard for her to know that Minato is making bonds that are only going to be shattered and stolen away. On the other hand, if anyone, it will be Minato who will surround young Kusano with the love she deserves. I could see the emotion in his eyes every time he looked at Musubi and considering he must've winged her very recently; he must understand what having an Ashikabi means to us Sekirei.

In the end, Takami never said anything; she merely lay there and smoked, staring at the ceiling. Instead, I got pulled over by Akitsu who asked me to tell her everything that happened in the Botanical Garden. Somehow, throughout the story we slowly wound up at the bar and then magically ended up in my bedroom and then…

I dropped my face into my arms, feeling heat creep up my neck. Really, what the hell was going on? For the longest time I thought of Akitsu like my lovable elder sister. Well, it seems I got the lovable part right at least. Gods! Shouldn't Takami be the one to go after her? Oh wait, she's got 2 children so I doubt that she'd go after Akitsu even if she is a goddess who descended straight from heaven to this sinful world…

I fell back, my armoured back hitting the roof with a clatter, softened by my haori, and stared at the cloudless blue sky. Then I sat up suddenly. If I am just going to sit here, then sooner or later, my thoughts are going to boil my blood to such a point that I'll just go and jump Akitsu. Although now that I think about it, that's a pretty good –

With effort I threw myself down onto the street, wind whistling through my ears as I fell. After I climbed out of the crater I made with my fall, frightened humans fleeing the area, I felt a bit better. Now, let's go do something that I'll take my mind off of Akitsu…like…I closed my eyes and spun.

Huh… Hiyamakai Hospital it is then. Let's go visit that girl who, perhaps in the future, may be my Ashikabi. But first…

"How long are you going to stand there?" I turned to the corner of the street.

"Ack, you knew?"

Well, this is a familiar figure, I thought as I stared at a brown haired girl with a giant hammer.

"Why are you here?" I asked, not bothering to even put my hands near my weapons.

"Umm..." She came closer and then bowed. "I think I found my Ashikabi! I stalked him just as you said and I think it's truly him."

I merely stared at her in wonder, having no idea why she'd come to me with a declaration like that.

"He is kind and nice and even though he already has a Sekirei I can feel that he won't deny me." She looked dreamily through me. "I've even had a dream about him."

"…" I scratched my forehead and sighed. "And why are you here, with me when you should be with him?"

"I came to thank you." She said plainly. "If you didn't save me back then a year ago, I'd have never met my True Ashikabi. So thank you."

She bowed waist low before me and then dashed away to the north, mostly likely going for her Ashikabi. I merely watched as her form got smaller and smaller, a slight smile curving my lips. It was nice having someone thank you so sincerely.

* * *

><p>"Ah, welcome back." Toyotama waved at me with a smile as I approached Chiho's room. "You sure you want to go there, right now? She has a visitor you know."<p>

"Hello Toyotama." I returned the smile, not that she could see it. "It matters not."

And then I proceeded to walk right through the door to find myself intruding upon a…private scene where Chiho was currently kissing a Sekirei. How I knew it was a Sekirei? The big white wings that filled up the room were a very big hint. I actually felt a little twitch at the scene, a sort of an urge to do the same to the sickly girl currently lying on the bed beneath that passionate Sekirei of hers. In fact…

"Oh my, it would seem that if you continue doing that, I'll have to fulfill my duties as the Shinigami." I grinned madly at what happened next.

The Sekirei jumped off and threatened me with a…giant plush rabbit. Chiho on the other hand began to take the oxygen that her Sekirei denied her up to now with giant gulps.

"Who are you?" The brown haired Sekirei stared at me intently.

"Ah! Shinigami!" Chiho finally saw me and cried out happily. "You came back!"

"I did promise, did I not?" I walked over to stand over her, completely ignoring the Sekirei who stood beside, and partially through me.

"It's not time yet, is it?" Chiho asked me a strange intonation.

I merely offered her my hand and she squealed with joy when her hand merely passed through mine, as intended. It's funny though, because after seeing Takami almost die, her soul almost leaving her body, this little trick I am playing on Chiho might not be a trick at all… If she was to be truly dying, I think she really would be able to touch my Soul Form as she would be practically a pure spirit at that moment.

"Looks like it isn't, mmm?" I mused.

"Chiho…what is going on?" Her Sekirei stared at me grimly, her eyes roaming over my haori and a sudden understanding coming in her eyes.

"You!"

"Me?"

"Uzume?" Chiho stared at her friend in confusion. "This is Shinigami I told you about before. What's wrong?"

"Shinigami huh?" The now named Uzume smirked suddenly and sat down on her Ashikabi's bed. "I guess that is one of her titles, true."

"I did say I am known by many names." I pulled down my mask and grinned widely.

"Huh, so you truly are, Rei." Uzume muttered to herself. "Why are you here?"

"I promised to Chiho that I'll come back." I tilted my head slightly. "And so I did."

"Are you…" Uzume glanced between me and Chiho. "Is she your..?"

"Perhaps." I nodded slowly, my grin only widening. "It all depends on so many factors."

"I see." Uzume smiled and turned over to her Ashikabi. "Now, where were we…?"

"…You're really going to do this in front the Reaper?" I deadpanned at the nerve of this Sekirei.

"You're welcome to watch." Uzume giggled at Chiho's horrified face. "It's not like you can touch her to do more than act like a simple voyeur."

While I coughed, having choked on air in indignation, Uzume proceeded to smother Chiho with kisses once again, her Ashikabi squeaking softly beneath her Sekirei's assault.

"Maybe we'll even go further today." Uzume broke her kiss only to say something that would send both me and Chiho into red. I must lay down my condolences for the poor girl. With a Sekirei like that, there's a good chance Chiho will literally get screwed to death. On the other hand, I'd think that's a much better way to pass on then to slowly waste away as Chiho has been doing lately.

A disappointed sigh broke me out of my musing and I saw Chiho passed out on the bed, her face as red as a tomato and a slight bit of drool coming out of her mouth while her Sekirei straddled her hips.

"Damn, she never lasts long enough for the main course." Uzume bent her head in fake sadness, her grin giving her away. "So, did you like the show? Lady Voyeur?"

"Tch, just because I am being cautious doesn't mean I am a voyeur." I walked over to stand by the window facing the park. "So she is already a part of this game, huh."

"…Yes." Uzume walked over to stand beside me, the much shorter girl looking down upon the park with a sad face. "I…I hate myself."

"You only did what your body told you to." I replied calmly. "Not many Sekirei have the will or abilities like me that allow them to resist the urge. If it makes you feel any better, she practically brought me to my knees the one time I touched her briefly."

"Eh? I thought you couldn't touch anything in the real world while you are in this ghost form." Uzume stared at me in shock. "Don't tell me this crap you told her about how you can touch her if she's dying is real!"

"But it is." I turned to the deathly pale Sekirei. "I can only touch the Spirits while in this form and Chiho is more than two feet in the Spirit World. I can actually see her soul, even now, the flames burning so brightly that they erupt from her frail body."

"T-then she's-"

"Although it is true she's dying," I finally decided to tell Uzume the truth, having had my fill of trolling her. "I actually briefly visited the Living Realm to touch her as I can't touch her on this side quite yet."

"By the gods!" Uzume actually fell to her knees and clutched her chest as she heaved in deep breaths of air. "Don't do that to me, I actually thought Chiho was about to die!"

"Not quite yet." I glanced back at the sleeping girl. "Why don't you transfer her to an MBI hospital? I very much doubt that her sickness is one that they cannot cure."

"Its…its not as simple as that." Uzume sighed as she leaned back and sat on the floor. "I am number 10, Uzume and I am sort of a fugitive from MBI because I helped Matsu steal a Jinki."

"Ah, so you participated in that event, mmm?" I nodded in thought. "True, something like that would definitely cause Minaka to dislike you."

"Not going to arrest me?" Uzume pointed at my Disciplinary Squad Haori with her eyes.

"Why, I think I have much better things to do right now." I mused to myself. "Like watching the clouds for instance. Did you know that that one over there looks like a clock?"

"…There's no clouds outside right now." Uzume looked at me as I laughed quietly to myself.

"No, there isn't." And suddenly, both of us were laughing.

* * *

><p>"Oh hi." I stopped in front of Yukari and another girl I didn't know. What are the chances of us meeting in the middle of the street randomly? 100% apparently as it just happened.<p>

"Hi Rei!" Yukari waved at me and then suddenly squinted at the Sekirei symbols emblazoned on the shoulders of my haori. "I swear, you guys are some sort of a cult or something, I keep seeing this symbol everywhere."

"Perhaps." I tilted my head a bit. "Who is this with you?"

"Oh? This is Emi Kita, I am staying at her for a while until the university dorms become open." Yukari gestured at the slightly taller girl who stared at me with stars in her eyes.

"I see." I nodded slightly to her and the girl squealed slightly, her eyes becoming misty as she looked on. "Is she alright?"

"Yea, she just has an issue where she becomes this when she sees a strong woman." Yukari shrugged nonchalantly. "Say, we were about to part anyway because I want to visit Minato who moved, want to come with me?"

"Hmm." I mused, stroking my chin. This would be a good time to check on Kusano. "I think I'll come with you. It was nice meeting you, Emi."

The poor girl nearly passed out, so red was her face when she shook my gloved hand, her own nearly unnoticeable in my bigger one. Yukari merely giggled at her friend's predicament before we headed off to Izumo Inn. It's been a while since I've been there, which makes a lot of sense considering just how much Miya hates anything MBI related. We talked as we walked, Yukari sharing her experiences of the city so far and I somewhat listened while at the same time musing about Uzume and her…our Ashikabi. I knew, at this point without a doubt, that if anyone would be my Ashikabi it would be Chiho; her compatibility to me was literally through the roof. I couldn't even stand near her in the same Realm without my body shutting down on me.

It's a bit amusing really; the one Ashikabi who happens to be compatible to a Realm Traveling Sekirei is the one who is currently balancing on the razor edge between the 2 Realms herself. It makes a huge deal of sense when one thinks about it though, Uzume told me. Who else would possibly match me? The trouble was that Chiho was far too naïve and too pure to be my Ashikabi. She just wouldn't be able to become the Disciplinary Squad Ashikabi and I told as much to Uzume. Uzume herself was quite impressed by the teamwork and closeness of Disciplinary members where we decided to all wing ourselves to the most compatible Ashikabi.

On the other hand, Uzume pointed out, if it's anyone who could accept us for who we are and what we must do, it would be Chiho. Her pureness and big heart could overrule her mind and make her see us victims of circumstance rather than see that we chose this, ourselves. I argued against this though as I hated deceiving people. Especially my future Ashikabi. However, I did agree to at the very least talk to my team about Chiho and it's quite possible that she'll get a mass visit in the immediate future. Uzume asked me to give her a call beforehand though, she wanted to come as well.

"Is this the place?" Yukari's question came through to me and I looked up to see the Izumo Inn, practically the same way I remembered it, stand before us. "Let's go take a look!"

We knocked on the door and a couple moments later it was opened to reveal a young looking man in kimono and a gentle smile.

"Why, what a pleasant surprise, Rei." Takehito smiled and held out his hand. "I have not expected you."

"Oh come on." Yukari groaned as we shook hands. "Don't tell me this place is run by the people of the same cult I keep seeing everywhere!"

"Cult?" Takehito looked at Yukari in confusion.

"She refers to the whole S-Plan business." I smiled, unseen once again from beneath the mask. "It's rather funny how she calls us cultists."

"I see." He smiled. "Ah, where are my manners, please, come inside."

We walked in, Yukari removing her shoes while I merely shrugged apologetically to Takehito as I couldn't take off my greaves without taking off the rest of the armour suit. Yukari looked at me weirdly as we walked on, my metal boots thumping against the wood.

"Oh it would seem we have…guests." Miya looked up from her place near the head of the table and suddenly sprang up and disappeared. The rest of the crowd at the table looked at us and then all hell broke loose.

"Lady Rei!" Musubi, of course.

"Reaper?!" Oh hi Uzume, didn't know you lived here.

"Sister!?" That's not for me…

"You again…" I am pleased to see you too, Homura.

"You are not welcome here." I know, Miya, I know, now put away that sword…

"…?" Oh hi Kusano, nice to meet you.

"Bloody Sekirei!" What the hell are you doing here, girl with huge hammer?!

It took a while for everyone to settle down and introductions to be given out. It was funny how, even though I knew most of the people here, few knew my actual name. Most knew me by my titles like Bloody Sekirei, Reaper, Shinigami and so on. Yukari's eyes grew wider with each title and soon she was wailing about how her mother mixed with a bad crowd and was going to get killed. That added a bit of chaos until she explained what she meant and how I was her guide as a favour for Takami on her first day here.

I officially learned the name of the little bird with the huge hammer! Number 84, Yashima practically venerated the ground I walked on and instantly told me how she stalked Minato for months and even let him wing Musubi before she decided he was her True Ashikabi. The poor man just sat there, shocked into oblivion that someone would take enough interest in him to stalk him for such a long time. Or maybe he was just shocked that she admitted to peeking on him while he was in the shower, I don't know. Regardless, the happy couple were obviously…happy, with Yashima constantly proclaiming her love to the man who just didn't know what to do with the random girls who just kept dropping in his lap on a daily basis.

I had faith he'd figure it out though, it was truly as Yashima said, there was great kindness and love in his eyes. He was especially touched when I told him about how Yashima very nearly had been forcefully winged before I saved her. However, he was less than impressed when I admitted, with a gigantic grin, that it was my advice that led him to be stalked for months.

"So…Minato is now involved in some sort of a cult and all of these girls are dropping in on him because of that?" Yukari shocked us all into silence before dropping the bomb. "If I sign up, will cute guys drop out of nowhere for me?"

I facepalmed, Minato choked on this air, Uzume rolled on the floor laughing, Yashima took the chance to hug Minato, Homura backed away from Yukari with wary eyes, Kusano stared at Yukari with a great question mark over her head, Takehito coughed and Miya smacked the poor girl with a ladle. The sad thing was, Yukari was right. As her parents are both Ashikabi, she is one too by default. Currently, she is a bit too weak to cause someone like Homura to react but Homura isn't the only male Sekirei. That and chances of her getting a female Sekirei to react are far greater, simply due to there being a lot more females Sekirei.

"Yukari…" I drawled slowly, the girl in question flinching and backing away from me slightly. "I do wonder what your mother will have to say on this…"

"Ack! I'll be good! I promise!" The much smaller girl waved her hands in front of herself as if to ward something away.

"Come, sit, and eat with us." Takehito gestured to the table full of food.

Not having anything against that I sat down beside Uzume and Yukari sat beside her brother. It was…interesting to sit in such a crowded environment. There were several conversations going on at once at any given time while we ate and praised Miya's cooking. If anyone ever told me that I'd sit and eat the food cooked by Number 1 and praise it, I'd have laughed in their face. Mostly because Miya would never normally allow me to eat her food but she was overruled by Takehito here. However, Miya's food was good. It was far better than the food we got from MBI kitchens, that's for sure. I was actually tempted to offer Miya to be the Head Cook for MBI just for laughs but then there was a chance she'd kick me out and I'd miss out on the food. So I merely commented how it was far better than the stuff we ate in MBI and I swear, her expression lost a couple degrees of hostility after my compliment.

Slowly, the talk began to revolve around me, and considering how Uzume has been sitting beside me and talking to me about anything and everything, the first question was how we knew each other.

"I happened to walk around in Soul Form one day and met her Ashikabi." I answered easily. "And then I walked in on Uzume trying to screw her Ashikabi to death. That was a funny sight."

Most of the table had turned red at this, albeit a few – Musubi and Kusano – merely looked confused, and I had to turn intangible to dodge a ladle.

"You'll have to come back sometime." Miya smiled sinisterly, her ladle tapping her hand. "And then you'll get it."

"...G-ghost!?" Yukari shrieked at my hazy, see through form. Oh, crap, I've forgotten we had a human here and used my ability instinctually. "What did my mother get involved in that she can get ghosts to look after me?!"

"Should we just tell her at this point?" Takehito rubbed his forehead. "She has seen far too much to be left in the dark it seems."

"Well, you know I can't." I grinned as I used Gate:Swap on my plate and began eating the food in the Spirit Realm. "Hmm, this tastes just as good on the other side as it does in the Living Realm."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow as everyone at the table stared at me.

"Y-you can turn things into ghosts!?" Minato turned deathly pale.

"People too." I shrugged. "Want to see the other side? It's a bit boring though, just a bunch of dead people here."

I love trolling people, I thought as I watched Minato faint. It's so much fun.

"From what I remember, whatever you bring to Spirit Realm you cannot take back to Living Realm." Takehito mused out loud, his hand on his chin. "So I am afraid you owe us a new plate now."

"Not a problem, I'll mail it to you tomorrow." I casually replied, ignoring Yukari who also fainted. "Or you can just wait till the Spirit Realm pushes it back out."

"It took almost a year for that Jinki to reappear back in the Living Realm." Takehito deadpanned.

"I am confused." Musubi gave up trying to wake Minato and sat there lost. "Why is Lady Rei suddenly see through?"

"Well…" I was about to give an explanation but then looked at the small hand that appeared through my chest. Twisting back, I saw Kusano stand there, staring at me with wide eyes, her hand trying to touch me. "Hi, Kusano. Having fun?"

"Ghost?" The little girl withdrew her hand and stared at me with those big eyes of hers, a hint of fear beginning to grow in them.

"Spirit." I corrected her gently as I turned around to face her. "Want to come and see?"

"Rei!" Takehito called out, scrambling to his feet even as I touched Kusano, Gate:Swap active. "What have you done!?"

"Oh relax." I waved my ghostly limb at him keeping my eyes on Kusano who looked around wildly at the sudden changes in the world around us. "I put in absolute minimum into that one; she'll be here with me for an hour at most."

"Want to come explore with me, Kusano?" The little girl nodded and reached for my hand, surprise clear on her face when she could touch me easily. "Yep, we are both Spirits right now so of course you can touch me."

"K-ku!" Minato looked at us with panic, picking the time to show up now. I grinned evilly at him.

"Hey now, Kusano." I drew the girl's attention to myself. "Let's play hide and seek with that Ashikabi of yours, hmm?"

And just like that, we dashed through a wall into another room, leaving Minato's shouts behind us. Kusano looked uncertain about running away from her 'brother Minato' but I gently smiled and told her that Minato would be able to find her anyway. All Ashikabi can sense their Sekirei somewhat and if Minato really did love this adorable little birdy then he'd find her in an instant.

"Ku!" I flashed Minato a smirk before I grabbed Kusano and jumped to second floor, ending up in a computer filled room.

"Oh hi Matsu!" I waved at the shocked Sekirei before Kusano led me through a wall giggling. "Bye Matsu!"

"…"

"Hi Homura."

"…"

"Bye Homura!" We both laughed at the fire Sekirei's dumbfounded expression as he stood there, half-dressed with a phone in one hand and a tie in the other.

"Ku!" Minato burst into the room we were in and tried to dash for Kusano. He didn't expect her to giggle though and guide both of us through the floor into the bathrooms.

For the next hour we got chased all over the house by Minato, Yukari – who woke up a short while later – and occasionally Takehito who laughed just as hard as we did. I must say, this is the first time I've actually played using my ability and it was rather fun. Kusano had a great time running around, filling the entire house with laughter like an especially amused poltergeist.

But, like all things, our time in the Spirit Realm ended and we phased into Living World in the living room, only to be instantly caught by Minato, Yukari and Takehito. Thankfully, half way through the game, Minato finally got it through his panic attack that Kusano is having fun and is not hurt in any way.

"I-I think that was the hardest game of Tag I've ever played." Minato gasped as he hugged Kusano to himself who was still giggling.

"Well," Yukari coughed as she lay flat on the floor. "At least we can now say that we've successfully caught a ghost."

"Spirit!" Kusano corrected her with a laugh before yawning. "Ku sleepy."

"Yea…" Yukari struggled to get up, using my armoured form as a pole. "I think it's about time for me to go too."

"I think I've stayed here long enough." I sagely nodded, staring warily at Miya who stood behind Takehito, a ladle in her hand and a very angry looking apparition hovering over her shoulder. "I'll take you home."


	23. Gate:107

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>All in all, I think this was a good trip to the Izumo Inn. I came; I had a great time, good food and passable company. Well, it would've been great company if Miya didn't keep glaring at me as if I killed her favourite dog and then decided to set her house on fire…with the dog's corpse too for good measure. I wonder what her problem is… Let's see, I am pretty much the Lieutenant of Third Generation Disciplinary Squad and an Honorary Member of Second Generation Disciplinary Squad. I happen to be on MBI payroll with Minaka Hiroto as my boss and I get to travel the world, meet new people and then murder them. I also happened to kidnap her husband, Takehito Asama, but I think that time hardly counts, it's not like he resisted at all. Aside from that, I happen to be an annoying Sekirei with a power to go intangible and an inclination to troll everyone one in sight. I still don't get why she hates me…<p>

"So…when are you actually going to tell me what's going on?" Yukari asked me as we walked to her friend's house.

"Mmm." I stopped and slowly lowered my mask, staring at the girl who held her breath in anticipation and then smiled. "Never!"

"…"

I must admit this is the first time I've ever actually seen some one face fault. As in, they randomly trip on air and fall down. While standing on one spot. How is this even possible?! But it just happened, right before me, and something tells me I might be the one responsible for it...Nah, cant be, its all a coincidence.

"I did tell you, if you remember." I smiled innocently. "I can't tell you. I happen to be one of the people enforcing the whole thing."

"Just my luck…" Yukari grumbled as she got up and dusted herself off. "Now I'll have to terrorize my brother until he tells me everything."

"Mmm, I'll just pretend I didn't hear anything." I turned my gaze upwards and whistled. "Why, would you look at those clouds, I think that one looks like a cat."

"…There are no clouds out right now." Yukari deadpanned at me as I laughed. "I don't get it."

"Inside joke-" I lowered my eyes just in time for a figure to dash out of the nearby alley and collide with Yukari, dropping both of them on the ground in a tangle of limbs. "…Hi there."

"Ouch…" One of the figures disentangled itself and rolled aside to reveal a very feminine boy clutching his gray head. "My…head…"

That being said, I think this might be a girl, I can't tell. The clothes are more or less suitable for males while the looks and voice make it vary ambiguous.

"Oww." Yukari finally stopped counting stars and sat up. "Are you al-right…"

As she saw who sat before her, she froze and suddenly, stars appeared in her eyes. I am not even joking, I swear I saw a twinkle and then a chill passed through my spine. As I tried to shake it off, Yukari and the feminine guy – I hope it's a guy so I shall refer to him as such – talked a bit and then I felt incoming ill will.

After fighting for 3 years straight, I became able to sense ill intent or Killing Intent as some refer to it. I don't think that's a good name for it though, because I doubt that Kara really wants to kill me…well, maybe not seriously kill me, but I got that sense mostly from our spars. She even got me train it at one point in it's early development by making me put on a blindfold and earplugs in our spars. Damn those were some very painful times before I finally figured out how to use that sense reliably.

Anyway, I turned upwards to see a couple Sekirei twins dash up to the edge of the roof and start raging at the escapee for running away. I was surprised to find out that the 2 strippers serving that bum of an Ashikabi were not the only twins around. One of the twins was a young looking girl wearing a black and yellow dress that flared out at the bottom letting us all see her underwear perfectly. Her twin sister wore a more modest black dress but considering the angle, it didn't help her actual modesty much. Excellent, we got a couple of flashers chasing after a young man. That sounds like a premise for some harem anime Haihane would watch.

While I was musing about the situation, the two couples managed to trade insults and Yukari did a cool heroic pose and declared that she'd protect this bishonen. What the hell does that even mean? What's a bishonen? Is that the guy's name? Oh, looks like it's time for me to intervene.

"I'd suggest you reconsider your next action." I stepped forward to stand in front of Yukari and this 'bishonen'. "Attacking humans isn't something I can overlook."

"Eh? Who are you?" They stared at me in confusion. Odd, they must not be able to see my haori from their position clearly. That or they are incredibly dumb and have managed to forget what Disciplinary Squad is. "Are you this girl's Sekirei?"

"Oh my, it would seem like I have some education to dispense." I sighed in fake distress. "Well, run along now Yukari, I'll deal with these dimwits."

"What did you call us?!" The twin in black dress stared at me incredulously.

"They are getting away!" Her sister reached behind her and pulled out a whip which she used to strike at the escaping Yukari and her companion. She must've channeled her power through it or something because I don't think it was about 20 meters in length to begin with, they were standing on top of the condo building after all.

"I thought I made it clear." I dashed over and intercepted the whip with my right hand, the thing coiling against my gauntleted hand. "Your path ends here."

"Ha! Stupid fool, I-eh?" She tried to pull on the whip and failed, my strength overpowering her attempt with ease. "Wh-"

"Tch." I pulled hard, throwing her off the roof and onto the street. "Your lack of common sense disappoints me."

"Mitsuha!" Her sister shouted and jumped down to check on her sister who began getting up with moans of pain.

"I-I am alright, Mitsuki." She teetered and had to grab her sister for support. "Almost."

"Why you!" Mitsuki waved her arms and pointed her hands at me, the sun reflecting off of dozens of strings that reached for me. Or would've if I had stayed on one spot. "Stand still damn it!"  
>"I am interested," I lazily dodged the thin wires she kept trying to grab me with. "Just what are you going to do if I actually start fighting back?"<p>

"We'll take you out, that's what!" Mitsuha finally picked up her whip again and lashed out at me, missing just as terribly as her sister.

"Hmm." I mused, dodging a combination they tried to achieve. "I think those two are too far for you to reach now. I should catch up."

"We'll catch them anyway!" Mitsuha yelled. "Our master won't be denied!"

"Yea!" Her sister lashed out again. "We'll defin-woah!"

I dashed forward, my swords in my hands, and sliced through both Mitsuha's whip and Mitsuki's strings with Gate:Open. I practically reached them before they got over the shock of losing their weapons so fast.

"How-" Was all Mitsuki was able to say before the pommel of my sword buried itself deep in her gut. "Garh!"

"Mit-!" Her sister followed just as quickly, the trauma causing her to cough up blood and pass out on the concrete. Mitsuki on the other hand proved to be a bit tougher and was still conscious, even if she didn't have the strength to do anything but lie in a pool of her own bloody vomit and moan pitifully.

"Disappointing." Was all I had to say at the scene before turning around and walking towards Yukari's house. The duo will be fine; we Sekirei are much hardier than humans. That being said, I think my blows would've turned a human's insides into mush rather than merely damage them like what happened to my opponents. Although I am not sure if I even want to categorize those two stupid morons as my opponents. Maybe as bratty children who had to be taught a lesson but were they actually a danger to me?

I laughed at the thought. Those two were definitely not Sekirei who trained more than occasionally or once a month. They had absolutely nothing that could pose even theoretical danger to me, not at the level of their weapon and power mastery. Or rather, lack of said mastery. They did have a chance, I mean, that Mitsuki girl with her wire could've ensnared me and then, theoretically, they could've brought me down. Maybe, sometime in the far future, like say a couple decades from now when their skills will finally be worth something with the amount of training they currently put into them.

"Hmm?" I glanced up to see a couple of shadows leap away. Huh, looks like someone was watching the fight but wasn't intending on joining in at all, otherwise my ill intent sense would've picked them up. Oh well, I don't particularly care who it was anyway, I doubt they'd have done anything other than slow me down even if they did join.

The one thing I did appreciate from the fight, is knowing that even if I still can't suppress my killer instinct, courtesy of Dietrich, then at least I can stop myself before causing too much damage. Honestly, I can't believe I haven't figured this out till now. If I want someone not to instantly die when I hit them, perhaps hitting them with the opposite of the sharp end of my sword is a good idea. People tend to die when there is a sword in their gut. It's much harder for them to do the same when all they got hit with is a pommel. At least, instantly. This should prove to be extremely handy in the upcoming later Stages.

I had no intention on killing any of my kind. At the same time, I'll have to fight them and at the very least knock them out somehow. So far, I am under the impression that there will be very few Sekirei who will pose enough threat for me to actually use the sharp end of my blades on. I think I'll be fighting with my pommels for the most part, until my opponents become good enough that I won't have to worry about them dying instantly on me. Then I thought about the rest of the Disciplinary Squad and couldn't suppress a sigh. Something tells me that we all will suffer through the same problem. After training practically 24/7 and constant evolving of our powers for years, we are far beyond any average Sekirei, especially ones who didn't bother to train their powers.

I've already given Beni my advice, thankfully, her abilities – which can and have been classified as heavy artillery – have enough secondary damage that anything in the radius tends to be thoughtfully demolished. But, considering that we Sekirei can take a lot more punishment than any human, the damage done shouldn't be any more than enough to knock her opponent out.

Haihane, on the other hand, is a bit more difficult to deal with. Her claws, especially when charged with her power, have a tendency of slicing through even my armour and that's pretty close to the absolute cutting edge I have. Although I simply ignore any and all armour, Haihane has enough brute force and sharp enough claws to practically do the same. Sparring with her has become a rather nervous business as of late, after she pretty much totaled my armour in the last 2 on 1 scenario we had. How she would go about without killing her Sekirei opponent, I don't know.

I mentally reviewed the levels of Deactivation. Level 1 was when the Sekirei is deactivated via another Sekirei touching the crest and reciting a small prayer – a deactivation code unique to the attacking Sekirei. We all receive a unique deactivation code upon our winging; it's a feature that is unlocked in the process of us receiving our Norito – an ultimate Sekirei ability accessible only to those with an Ashikabi. Level 2 is the first of deactivation by force, but in this case it's also fairly merciful. A level 2 is inflicting minor damage – like suppressing the Sekirei in question – and then using the deactivation code. Level 3 is when it starts to go into actual body damage. Level 3 is deactivation by force, but also comparatively minor – like having the Sekirei in question bleed out or forcing deactivation via blunt trauma or comparatively minor damage like a knife to the heart. Level 4 is severe body damage; the Sekirei in question can be missing limbs, destruction of multiple organs, anything except for the Tama. Level 5 is complete Sekirei death and is only possible if the Tama is destroyed.

Although, I think she has enough finesse and precision to merely bleed her opponent out, resulting in a fairly peaceful Level 3 Deactivation, Haihane might be forced to result to a Level 4, just due to the way her weapons work. Really, no matter how precise you are – unless you are Kara – using weapons intended for shredding tanks to merely nick your opponent to bleed out takes an insane amount of luck too.

Speaking of Kara, we – pretty much everyone involved in this little conspiracy – managed to get her to agree to do Level 3 Deactivations only. She refused to go lower as she considered it a slight against herself to do so. Still, I am grateful for her even going so far.

"…" I stared at the light show that erupted from the house I was on my way to and then sighed, staring at the cloudless evening sky. "Takami is going to murder me."

* * *

><p>"See! Pretty boys did come out of nowhere!" Yukari jumped around the room, ecstatic. Her Sekirei sat on the floor, his wide blue eyes following her progress while I merely leaned again the doorway. He was a rather frightened little fellow, who reached only half way up to my chest.<p>

"Yukari…" I sighed and then a ring tone came up, announcing that I was being called. "Yes?"

"Rei…" Takami's voice was dangerously calm before she blew up, making me twitch. "WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"

"Oww… you don't have to yell that hard, Takami." I rubbed my head in embracement. "I am sorry, but your daughter managed to run off with a Sekirei and wing him while I covered their escape from other Sekirei who were chasing."

"Gods fucking damn it!"

"I-is that m-mother on the line?" Yukari suddenly ended up behind her Sekirei, staring at me with fearful eyes. "I-is she mad?"

"Hey Takami, your daughter is asking if you're mad," I smirked at the deathly pale girl. "Or berserking in rage."

"Rei…" Takami's voice grew dangerous once more. "Once you come back, you're getting that armour of yours installed with external speakers and a holographic projector. NO BUTS!"

"Ehehe…" I laughed nervously. "A-alright I guess."

"Good." Takami hanged up, letting me breathe out a sigh of relief.

"S-so?" Yukari stuttered from behind the confused boy only to jump up in fright when her cell phone began to ring. "H-hi mom."

"WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING!?" Her Sekirei was literally blasted away by Takami's voice. "I TOLD YOU TO LISTEN TO REI DAMN IT!"

While Takami chastised her daughter, I and Shiina – Yukari's Sekirei – talked. When I mused how interesting it was to see him right after playing around with his anti-thesis, he became pale and stuttered if she was still alive after I was done with her. At this point I waved aside his concerns and told him that I kill humans for the sake of Sekirei. I don't kill Sekirei as that would mean that my last 3 years' worth of working to protect our kind was worthless. I told him I merely visited Kusano to ensure the little kid was fine as it was my mission prior to return her to MBI and I only relented when I found out that she met her True Ashikabi.

Shiina was happy that she got a True Ashikabi, yet sad at the same time that they had different ones. At which I pointed out that, considering his Ashikabi is the sister of Kusano's Ashikabi, there won't be a problem. The guy literally fell on his knees when his feet refused to hold him after experiencing such intense relief.

In the end I bid him good day and left, Takami still yelling at Yukari. I had to get back to MBI, Kara and Haihane were supposed to come home today. There's a talk I need to have with Kara and – by the gods! – it won't be easy for me.


	24. Gate:Wings

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"…Somehow I didn't expect this."<p>

"You should've." Kara mumbled beside me. "Now shut up and go back to sleep."

As I lay there, listening to Kara's soft breathing, I thought back on the previous day – or rather evening. Somehow, in all of my anxiety and in all of the scenarios running in my head, I've never expected what happened to happen. It started off with me waiting for Kara to come back while Haihane and Beni were in the baths. Apparently Kara arrived three hours ago, got bored of waiting for me and then left to go find Musubi to see how she was so far and take a look at her Ashikabi. Of course, Kara being who she is, she couldn't not get in an argument with Miya and ended up coming home wound up.

So there I am, reading some random manga from Haihane's massive collection out of sheer boredom, and suddenly, the next minute I am doing my best to keep up with pissed Kara on the training ground outside the MBI Tower. Kara occasionally wanted to unleash herself without collapsing the MBI building by doing so and so we got a Disciplinary Squad training ground on the outskirts of the MBI Tower. It was extremely handy in practising destructive skills and Beni's abilities in general. Eventually, Kara got too fast for me and ended up demolishing one of the walls surrounding the training ground with my body. Yea, that still hurts by the way, armour or not. Then Akitsu walks in through the hole in the wall and decides to fight Kara for no reason. Actually, screw reasons, what was Akitsu doing on our training ground in the first place?! Regardless, as I lay there, recovering, I got the dubious joy of seeing 2 powerful single numbers go at each other. I never knew Akitsu was this strong, I mean, I knew she was incredibly smart to keep up with Takami but I somehow thought that she wouldn't have the time to practise her abilities while with Takami.

Well, I got proven wrong, incredibly so. And I should've known too, I mean she is the reason why 2nd Invasion failed to actually capture the Kamikura Town despite the marines outnumbering the guards more than 10:1. Still, I've never actually seen her fight till now and by the gods, was it something special. Akitsu was born to be long-range artillery. That being said, she also apparently trained hard to fix her weakness in close combat too. The results were…spectacular. I was simply at loss of words when Akitsu walked in and summoned a frigging icy comet to crash down from the heavens onto Kara who proceeded to slice through the celestial body and escape majority of the damage.

For the next 30 minutes I lay there and watched, with huge eyes and an open mouth, as Akitsu chased Kara around with things like comets, ice geysers, blizzards, animated icy golems and all of that came with practically hundreds of icicles flying everywhere. Of course, Kara gave just as well as she got. Icicles and geysers she dodged, comets and golems she hacked through and the blizzard she simply ignored by coating herself with an aura of sorts of her own power. She kept going after Akitsu who rode a giant dragon around to get away from her. The result was that both of them simply ran out of energy to continue and decided to call it a tie.

At which point Akitsu proceeded to bluntly tell Kara that she slept with me. Then she proceeded to take the blame on herself, making it look like she's the one who seduced me. Considering the arguments and words she used, I began to doubt who seduced who. Maybe it truly was the way Akitsu portrayed it and it was merely me acting due to her provocation… Does it honestly matter!? Fuck no, I still like both of them and I've slept with both of them. Gods, I am such an asshole for doing this to Kara, who I truly came to love and Akitsu who has been like family for me.

Regardless, when I tried to intervene, I was told to 'shut up and stay there while your superiors are talking'. Truthfully, they were right, Kara was my captain and Akitsu was even superior to that by MBI rankings. Somehow, the 2 of them managed to talk it out and came to an agreement. If Kara ever sees Akitsu in her bed, she's going to kill her. Aside from that, whenever Kara isn't around, Akitsu is free to do whatever she pleases. I must admit, this was definitely not what I was expecting all of this come down to.

* * *

><p>"I hate being used like a mobile demolition crew…" Beni grumbled at the table as we sat down to eat breakfast. "Stupid idiots trying to escape…"<p>

"At least you got to break something." Haihane sighed as she drank a glass of milk. "When they ordered us not to attack you at least could hit the ground and scare them away. How the hell am I supposed to scare away those damn brats if any ability I use will freaking kill the gods be damned weaklings!?"

While Kara, Akitsu and I were having 'fun' on the training ground – which is now in need of complete repair due to what Akitsu did to it – Beni and Haihane had to go out and patrol the city perimeter when MBI moved in to occupy Shinto Teito. Yea, another thing the three of us missed: apparently we are now officially in Second Stage. Pardon me for not cheering. The White Clown, in a rare show of tact – or maybe it was fear for his life – decided not to interrupt our little training session and instead sent Beni and Haihane to patrol the city while MBI squads, reinforced with Specialists, locked down the city. Of course, there was quite a bit of panic in the evening yesterday when some Ashikabi tried to use their Sekirei to get out of the city. However, the combination of massed mobile armour, thousands of grunts, MBI laser satellites and Specialists reinforcing the whole thing were more than enough to send the attackers back into the city.

Beni and Haihane maybe crying to us about their misfortunes, but I and Kara already skimmed through the mission reports and knew more or less what happened. Really, they should stop raising such a stink over a couple incidents they were called for. Sure, Beni went ahead and simply demolished an entire bridge with a Pulverize when the MBI positions on said structure got breached but that was pretty much the end of the incident. After the destruction of the bridge everyone just got up and left, there was nothing left to fight over.

Haihane also had to scare off a pair who tried to leave by attacking a small little known bridge that was guarded only by a couple dozen grunts and a couple of light mobile armour. Nothing that could stop a determined Sekirei empowered by a Norito – an ability where the Sekirei uses her Ashikabi as a resonance for her abilities, empowering them briefly. So Haihane had to drop in, toss a few insults, cut their clothes off and that was pretty much it. The photo of the pair running off while holding onto their underwear prompted much laughter from me and Kara when we were reading the report. The bridge in question is now patrolled by a mere dozen grunts and a Specialist Captain Andromeda. I do not envy any Sekirei who tries to attack that bridge now, Andromeda got rather pissed for being assigned guard duty in the middle of nowhere.

Still, now that we are here together and the situation stabilized briefly, perhaps it is time…

"I've got something to say to you all." I attracted their attention. "I've found my True Ashikabi. Of course, I haven't gotten winged yet."

"Oh?" Kara merely arched an eyebrow.

"What!?" Beni stood up, her fists clenched, a strange fire in her eyes.

"…" Haihane deemed her toast more important than giving some sort of response.

"Would you like to come with me to meet her?"

"Are you really expecting a negative?" Kara finished her drink and got up. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>"Somehow, I am not surprised." Haihane muttered as we stood before Hiyamakai Hospital.<p>

"Neither am I." Kara nodded with her typical smile on. "The only person more compatible to Rei would be an undead and I don't think those exist. I hope this person you found isn't on their deathbed, are they?"

"Close, but the MBI can fix it." I replied, opening the gates. "I've checked with Akitsu."

"Where to now?" Beni looked around at the serene scene, looking for my Ashikabi.

"This way." I led them over to the tree where I met Chiho for the first time, Uzume waiting for me there with the girl in question sitting beside her on the wheelchair. I was of course in my Soul Form as I figured that if I were to show up in Living World then I wouldn't be able to so much as stand when we approach her.

"Shinigami!" Chiho waved at me with a big smile causing my companions to stare at me incredulously. "It's nice to see you again!"

"Hello Reaper!" Uzume waved and got up. "I see you brought everyone huh…"

"My, my, and who are you?" Kara put on her eerie smile and crouched before Chiho while Beni and Haihane slowly approached her from the sides.

"I am Chiho Hidaka." The girl smiled back, unconcerned about the wrongness of Kara's smile and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Hmm. Indeed." Kara shook her hand and then withdrew. "I am Karasuba."

"Hi, I am Benitsubasa." Beni was next while Haihane took off her gauntlets. "I am Rei's apprentice, nice to meet you."

"Hi!" Chiho shook her hand and then stared at Beni in shock. "Eh? I can touch you? Aren't you a Shinigami too?"

"Ah…my title is the Shinigami." I bowed my head in slight shame from the half-truth I currently have to deal with. "I am not the true Shinigami."

"So…when you told me that if you can't touch me then I am alright, you lied?" Chiho stared at me with her wide brown eyes."

"No, I told you the truth." I replied. "While I am in this form, I can only touch spirits, meaning that if I can touch you then you are dying."

"Oh…I see." She breathed out in relief. "So, who are you?"

"I am Haihane, Karasuba's apprentice." Haihane shook the girl's hand gently, her ragged form intriguing the smaller girl greatly.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled and then her face put on an expression of worry. "Are you alright? You have so many bandages."

"I am fine, I heal fast." Haihane shrugged and stepped away.

"Rei, a word." Kara beckoned us to follow but began talking when we were only ten meters away. "Is she acceptable for us? I believe her kind is far too innocent to ever become Ashikabi for us."

"I've talked to her and to her Sekirei, number 10, Uzume." I scratched my forehead. "I believe that if we ease her in, she will be fine. She'll accept us."

"I've felt something when I talked to her." Haihane glanced back at the girl talking to Uzume. "It was stronger than when Minaka introduced us to Natsuo but not by much."

"I felt it, definitely." Beni put her hand over her heart. "Just by touching her, my body heated up and my heart is still beating fast. But…she's a girl, will she ever love us?"

"Umm…I don't think we'll have a problem with that…" I glanced back to see Uzume kissing her Ashikabi. "I've walked in on them kissing passionately before."

"I also felt a slight reaction, but it was far too weak." Kara's ever present smile dipped a bit. "However, all Ashikabi become stronger the more Sekirei are under their command. Who knows, perhaps with you three and this Uzume under her, she'll give me a decent reaction."

"Wait, so you actually want us all to get winged by this half-dead girl?" Haihane exclaimed.

"Well, we all decided that we'll be winged by 1 person, no?" Beni huffed. "Might as well start looking for decent people now and if Rei found her True Ashikabi shouldn't we follow her?"

"I…I don't have to be winged by Chiho you know." I hesitated, something inside of me hurting at the mere thought that it might not be Chiho. But I had to do this, for the Squad that became my family. "I can take whoever you react to."

"Mmm, I don't particularly believe in all of this True Ashikabi stuff." Kara mused out loud. "I will wing myself on the Ashikabi who I believe is worthy. And so far, I haven't decided yet about this girl."

"We have some time until we are the only unwinged ones left." Haihane scratched her head. "Why not look around until then? We'll make sure to pay special attention to this Chiho girl to see if she truly is worthy of us."

"How many are left anyway?" Beni turned to me and Kara.

"Beside us there's 5 left." I recited the information Akitsu gave me yesterday after the fight. "Numbers 3, 6, 9, 94 and 106."

"Damn it, Minaka is going to go after us soon." Beni bit her thumb nail. "We need to look around, fast."

"To be honest, there isn't much of a choice." Kara drawled, staring at Chiho. "Almost all of the other Ashikabi are either trash, too weak or simply boring. I've already looked at their files and I am not impressed one bit. This girl, is the only one who shows some promise, even if its mostly only due to Rei reacting to her."

"Oh? How so?" I raised an eyebrow, I didn't know Kara did that much research into the matter.

"Her Sekirei, Uzume, is going around, attacking other Sekirei seemingly at random from behind and leaves the corpses alone." Kara explained. "I suggest a small test. If she is capable of accepting that her Sekirei is a cold blooded murderer, then she can definitely accept us."

"Makes sense to me." Haihane easily went along with her master.

"Oh, that would work." Beni nodded too. "If she can accept that this Uzume person is a serial killer, then she can definitely accept us who do what we do because we must."

I merely nodded and walked off to get Uzume who was still playing around with her Ashikabi.

"Y-you can't be serious!" She turned deathly pale at our request. "I-I've done everything I have for her! In order to pay off the medicine I had to do this but Chiho…I…"

"Mmm? You do not trust your Ashikabi?" Kara's grin widened slightly. "My my, and here we thought that you 2 were so close together…"

"Uzume." I grabbed the girl by the shoulders forcing her to look at me. "Whatever transgressions you did against MBI will be pardoned if Chiho becomes our Ashikabi. This means that MBI will cure her. I have asked around and they are 100 percent certain that they can cure that illness."

"Indeed, if you can't do it for yourself, do it for your Ashikabi." Beni crossed her arms and stared at Uzume challengingly.

"I…I'll do it." Uzume gulped and nodded resolutely. It would seem like our guess was correct, Uzume is willingness to do anything for her Ashikabi knows no bounds.

"We'll help, play along." Kara grinned evilly, something on her mind. The rest of us merely shrugged and decided to play along with Kara.

"Girl." Kara started in a lazy pose, her hand on her nodachi. "It is time for us to introduce ourselves truthfully. I am Number 4, Karasuba, Captain of Disciplinary Squad and these are my underlings."

"Eh? Sekirei?" Chiho looked at us confused. "Shinigami too?"

"That is irrelevant at this point." Kara waved her question aside. "What does matter, is that it falls to us to oversee the rules of the Sekirei plan. One of these rules happens to be that after termination of a Sekirei, their opponent must wait on the spot for MBI to pick up the corpse."

"What are you-"

"Your Sekirei, number 10 Uzume, is being charged with breaking that rule multiple times." Kara's smile became downright frightening. "Now, generally we'd merely do something silly like fine you or something like that. But I can see that you are here, living out the rest of your days in peace."

"So I offer to take this murderer off your hands." And with those words, suddenly Uzume had Kara's blade under her chin. We all froze, I, Beni and Haihane because if we do anything, we might break the atmosphere and thus break the test Kara is putting Chiho under. Uzume froze because moving with a razor sharp sword at your neck is generally a very bad idea. Chiho on the other hand…

"NO!" She stood up and dashed to stand before her Sekirei, arms wide, desperation forcing her body to obey while Kara lowered her blade in surprise. "She's no murderer! I can feel her pain! Her suffering when she's out there, thinking that I don't know what she does! Don't take her away from me!"

"Chiho…" Uzume uttered, completely shocked. "You…you knew?"

"Uzume," Chiho turned at smiled at her Sekirei. "You told me yourself that we are bonded for eternity. I can feel you no matter where you are, no matter what you do. I feel you. But I couldn't do anything but smile for you, not with this body of mine."

"Ah!" Her legs finally gave out and she tumbled down, Uzume reaching out for her but…

"I like that answer, girl." Kara held Chiho in one hand, sheathing her sword with the other, a pleased grin on her face. "I think you'll do just fine."

"Eh?" Was all surprised Chiho could say before Kara bent down and kissed her.

"I am your sword," Kara stated in an odd voice as she broke away, looking at Chiho in the eyes. "Wield me in this endless battle."

"Somehow, I thought I was going to be first." I stared enchanted at the wings of pure black light which erupted from Kara's back. "And I distinctly remember you saying that you were going to be last."

"When she stood up for her Sekirei and defended her, only pure will forcing her broken body to stand," Kara replied as she held a completely red Chiho in her arms. "I felt my reaction spike. I like her indomitable will; she'll be a fine Ashikabi for us."

"Well, looks like it's settled, hmm?" Haihane leaned over and turned Chiho's tomato red face towards her. "I am number 104, Haihane. Take care of me, would you?"

"I am your wraith," Haihane spoke gently after ending her kiss. "Together, none shall stand before us, for ever."

13 sky blue wings briefly illuminated the scene before turning to ash and disappearing into the wind. Haihane took her time before pulling away with a big grin, leaving Chiho a stuttering mess.

"I-what?" Chiho looked at smirking Beni and me with my gentle smile. "What's going on?"

"Tch, figures that we will have a clueless girl as our Ashikabi." Beni brought her face point blank close to Chiho. "I am number 105, Benitsubasa and you are my Ashikabi."

Blood red wings lit up the area as Beni kissed Chiho hesitantly despite her bravado.

"I will be your final mercy," Beni said with a sad smile, slowly leaning back from the kiss. "Together we will put our enemies to eternal rest."

I merely watched on, something deep inside of me aching at the unraveling scene. It was strange, I loved Kara and yet…something scratched at my heart to see Chiho wing everyone before me. That being said, I had to do something and fast. If Akitsu and Takami are to be believed, which they are, then an Ashikabi becomes a far stronger beacon to all compatible Sekirei. Which meant that if I thought I had it bad before, now I probably will simply pass out the instant I phase back into the Living World.

"W-what just happened?" Chiho calmed down a little, Uzume fussing over her, still held securely in Kara's arms.

"You just became the Arbitrator of the Sekirei Plan." Kara explained, her grin stretching to close her eyes. "You are now the Ashikabi of the Disciplinary Squad, the Ashikabi in charge of making sure this whole thing doesn't unravel into a massive mess that will destroy the city."

As Chiho's eyes grew bigger by each statement, Kara decided to finish it off with a single blow.

"Pretty much the lives of everyone in this city are in your hands now."

And with that, Chiho fainted, unable to take anymore.

"You just had to do that before I could get my wings." I deadpanned at my lover.

"What can I say, she delightful to mess around with." Kara gave a short laugh.

"Wait, so what's Rei going to do now?" Beni asked with a frown, looking from my pale face to her new Ashikabi.

"I need to get Chiho back." Uzume reached out and took the girl in question from Kara. "This much excitement and the fact that she forced her body right now can't be good for her."

"That might not be a good idea." I stated, causing Uzume to look back in surprise. "Chiho just became a major player in this game. Do you really think Higa won't take the chance to poison her and put us all out of commission?"

"Higa? The so called Ashikabi of the East?" Haihane tilted her head slightly. "What does he have to do with this?"

"This is his hospital, he practically lives here." Uzume answered, loathing in her voice. "But where do we go now then?"

"To MBI of course." Ben stated this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Where else? Minaka can't afford to lose us, so they'll heal Chiho as fast as possible to get us combat ready."

"I-You are right." Uzume nodded with a determined expression. "Let's go."


	25. Gate:9

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>After handing Chiho over to Takami and Akitsu who promised to get her illness cured in days, Kara went off to report to Minaka that we got our Ashikabi while I decided to go walk around in the city. I just couldn't handle the pressure of having to wait for my future Ashikabi to awaken and finally wing me. I just had to get out. Well, that and the fact that when I tried phasing into Living Realm I nearly blackened out from the reaction I was getting and that was outside the room she lay in! If I wanted to get out of Spirit Realm any time soon, I had to do it outside the MBI tower.<p>

Which brings me to my current disposition. I am not quite sure how things started out but after seeing Uzume off as she went to grab her things from Izumo Inn I somehow ended up here…

"T-this Sekirei is mine!" I think this must be the first time I saw Minato come out of his timid, withdrawn shell. I was quite surprised and I wasn't alone in this regard. Practically everyone on the street, Hibiki, Hikari, Seo – their Ashikabi – Tsukiumi the water Sekirei in question and Yashima all stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the young man.

"Huh? You-" Whatever Seo wanted to say will forever be lost as he was blasted by what seemed like full power from his enraged Sekirei.

"You bastard! How dare you go after another Sekirei while we are here!" Hikari clenched her fist, lightning snaking through out her body and making her hair fly upwards. "After telling us that we are the only ones for you!"

"B-but I didn't do anything yet!"

That was definitely not the right thing to say, I thought as I watched Seo get lit up like a Christmas tree. Off to the side, Yashima stood and giggled at Seo's misfortune, her hammer waiting for its time on her shoulder. Meanwhile, Tsukiumi and Minato talked a bit, Minato got a free cold shower and then suddenly, Tsukiumi kissed the guy, sprouting gigantic wings of ocean blue. Well, looks like the show is over, it's probably time for me to-

"Oh! Lady Rei!" I turned back to see Musubi wave at me cheerfully, the rest of the actors in this farce also turning upwards to look at me. Where the hell did she come from? "What are you doing here?"

"Watching." I admitted easily, taking pleasure in the stunned expressions of Minato and Tsukiumi.

"Why you! The coward who keeps running away from me!" Tsukiumi pointed at me angrily. "Come down here and face me in fair combat!"

"Eh?!" Minato stared at his newly gained Sekirei. "Wait that's-"

"Why not?" I shrugged and jumped down, Hibiki, Hikari and Seo scrambling away warily. "You should be a good practise."

"Hah! This Tsukiumi here will show you her power!" The blonde in the short dress proclaimed, water currents coming into existence around her.

"Let's see if you prove to be a worthy distraction." From the thoughts that plague me recently anyway. I drew my swords, Tsukiumi got into position and Yashima dashed over to grab Minato before leaping away. As if that was the signal, Tsukiumi unleashed her torrent at me, water rising like an unforgiving tsunami before me. It might've worked had I tried to dodge or something like that, I on the other hand, merely walked through in my Soul Form only to instantly phase back into the Real World and dash towards the stunned Sekirei. Somewhere along that time, I noticed Seo and his Sekirei run off.

I must say, I was rather…disillusioned. After seeing what Kara, Akitsu, Mutsu and Yume could do I came to believe that the single digits were amazing. Even Homura was powerful enough to make me think twice before engaging him. Tsukiumi proved otherwise. Oh sure, there was water everywhere and even thought I used Gate:Open on myself as often as I could I got drenched a bit, but her attacks did nothing to me. She didn't compress her water balls for them to actually hurt on contact and her streams of water were just that: streams of water. It was a bit like being sprayed by a power hose. Distracting, but hardly harmful. Of course, I had to give her some slack considering my armour but it was no major hinderance to all other single digits I've fought before. In close combat, she was utterly worthless and had I wanted to, I could've killed her already. She could make a watery blade but she had absolutely no skill with it.

"I am disappointed." I finally stated my thoughts, stopping before heavily breathing Tsukiumi. "You are nothing like the other single numbers, you are weak."

"Grr!" The Sekirei clenched her fists. "You just keep running away into that cheating form of yours!"

"Indeed." I sighed. "Well, it's time to finish this. Nice knowing you, Tsukiumi."

With those words I dashed forward, my blades glowing an ethereal wispy blue. Tsukiumi threw another wave at me but this one I just broke right through, not even bothering to phase through it. Her power was just not concentrated enough to actually harm me. A step before I was about to reach her though, I had to spin on my heels and block a gigantic hammer with one hand while another sword deflected a mighty punch from Musubi.

"Oh?' I jumped back, using the momentum they gave me and relaxed, my swords at my sides, pointing slightly towards the ground. "Hmm, looks like this is getting interesting."

"You!" Tsukiumi seemed torn before appreciating how she got saved and chastising her savours for interrupting the duel.

"Shut up." Yashima stared at me, her usually calm features focused and alert. "You are no match for Lady Rei, none of us are. We must work together."

"Yea!" Musubi jumped up and down in excitement. "Together we can take her on!"

"Musubi, Yashima, Tsukiumi." Minato called out from the side, a phone in his hand. "Be careful!"

"Hmph!" Tsukiumi turned away from her Ashikabi with a blush and began forming more water around her. Yashima readied herself, her hammer glowing blue and Musubi merely took a stance, her battle lust palpable.

"Hmm." I stared at the opponents in front of me. Albeit random, this was going to be an interesting fight. It was going to be a bit difficult that they prevented me from knocking Tsukiumi out with their attack but now it's just going to be so much more exhilarating. With Yashima and Musubi attacking me in the front while Tsukiumi brought in the artillery, this is going to be a fun fight. Of course, I wasn't going to actually try to kill or even severely injure any of them and at the same time, they couldn't do anything to me as I'll just Gate:Open away.

Just as I expected, Musubi charged in first, Yashima following after her with a war cry, her hammer glowing brighter with vivid blue by the second. Tsukiumi quickly fired a stream at me in an attempt to distract me long enough for her allies to reach me. Except she didn't know I had the Ill Intent sense which allowed me to dodge her attack with ease while I ducked below Musubi's punch and kicked her away just in time to criss-cross my swords in a block from Yashima's hammer.

"Ow." I deadpanned as Yashima literally put me knee deep into asphalt. Well, more like a gigantic crater formed from her hitting me, but details. Regardless, now I knew that blocking was a very bad idea as my arms literally went numb from that block. And to make it worse, Musubi took that kick on a block and was already charging right back into the fight. At least Tsukiumi was currently out of commission, afraid to hit her own allies by accident as we brawled in the middle of the street.

Yes, this is the fight I was looking for, I grinned madly as I ducked, dodged and parried the countless blows Musubi threw at me and the occasional strike which caused small earthquakes from Yashima. Of course, I threw out just as many attacks as they did and so far, only thanks to me unable to press my advantage that they had nothing more than torn clothing and light scratches. I on the other hand, was completely fine even if I was soaking wet, courtesy from the occasional water ball from Tsukiumi.

Suddenly, my instincts screamed of an incoming attack from above and I slashed above with Gate:Open. Musubi and Yashima backed away slightly, taking a small breather to calm down.

"That's just not fair!" Matsu's voice called out from the phone Minato was still holding. "How the hell did you just cut a laser?!"

"Oh? Is that what it was?" I glanced skywards, unconcerned about possible attacks from the ground. My eyes were hardly the biggest sense I used in a fight anyway, Kara taught me as much. My eyes generally just couldn't keep up with the speeds me and Kara could go up to so I had to rely on other senses.

"Regardless, I think it's about time to wrap this up." I looked back down to see them eye me warily and Minato in shock. "On guard!"

I dashed forward to Yashima who swung her hammer at me with all her strength. Musubi tried to intercept, but I merely ran straight through both her and Yashima's hammer. Yashima, seeing me point blank, jumped away, letting go of her hammer but before she could get away, I spun on the spot, phased back into Living World and kicked the smaller girl hard.

"Yashima!" Minato ran over to the fallen Sekirei as she slumped out of a small crater in the wall of the nearby apartment building.

I spun back, blocking both of Musubi's strikes and then, turning once more, slashed at Tsukiumi's attack with Gate:Open, negating it. Slashing at Musubi without looking with another Gate:Open, I dashed towards Tsukiumi who sent water ball after water ball at me, her eyes wide and her hands shaking from the exhaustion. She managed to slow me down enough that Musubi, who dodged my slash, caught up to me and forced me to fight her again right beside Tsukiumi who took the chance to jump away.

Tch, I didn't want to do this, but I didn't come here to play a game of tag.

"Gate:Swap!" I called out, quickly drawing a circle with one blade and then cutting it with another. The tell-tale blue wave erupted and then quickly came back, taking me, Musubi and Tsukiumi who almost escaped it, into the Spirit World.

"What is this!?" Tsukiumi looked around wildly, the blue dome, the black and white world and the soul orbs floating about confusing her greatly.

"Eh?" Musubi backed away from me. "Where are we?"

"Welcome, to the Spirit Realm." I gestured around with my swords. "Do try not to go beyond the borders; you might be stuck here for ever."

"What is this madness…" Tsukiumi stared at me with wide eyes.

"I would do as she says, Tsukiumi!" Matsu's garbled voice reached us. "Don't go beyond the dome boundaries!"

"Well then, round 3?" I smiled, my swords at the ready once more.

"Musubi is ready!" And without waiting for another moment, I was set upon by Musubi, having to dodge, duck and occasionally tap her fists out of the way with my swords. She wasn't bad, her speed, reaction time and strength were obviously high, but her technique seemed…unrefined. It was as if she just recently began actively learning it.

"Ack!" Musubi collapsed to her knees and clutched her stomach as I rammed a pommel into it, having seen everything I wanted to see.

"Musubi!" Minato called out from the other side, still clutching at Yashima's limp form.

"I-I am okay…" Musubi had to go on all 4s to stabilize herself, taking deep breaths.

Meanwhile, Tsukiumi tried her best to escape me, tossing everything she could at me but the limited area meant that sooner or later…

"Well, that was fun." I calmly stated at the vomiting Tsukiumi at my feet. Pommel to the stomach must hurt really badly, I reflected upon seeing flecks of red amidst the sick the water Sekirei threw up. Musubi, on the other hand, was the first one not to throw up or keel over after getting hit by my patented pommel-to-the-gut attack. While the two Sekirei gasped for breath, clutching their middles, I sat on a large piece of rubble – courtesy of Yashima – and waited for Gate:Swap to end. I put in just enough to last about 5 minutes, so the time should finish right about…now.

"Musubi!" Minato dashed over to his Sekirei who managed to sit up, leaning herself against another piece of rubble. "Are you alright? Tsukiumi! Are you-?"

"I am fine, Lord Ashikabi." Musubi attempted a smile but grimaced instead. "Oww…I guess I have to train more huh."

"I-I am fine." Tsukiumi surprised me by actually getting up and shambling over to Minato, a painful glare sent my way every couple steps. "It'll take more than that to bring me down!"

"I can offer more." I smirked behind my mask as she tripped and waved her arms to try to stabilize herself. Thankfully, Minato dashed over just in time to pick her up in his arms and settle her down beside Musubi gently. It was a bit funny to see the proud woman instantly turn into a red, stuttering mess by Minato's heroics.

Well, this has been fun, but I think it's time for me to return. As I began walking, I had to stop and dodge a random water ball. Looking back I saw Tsukiumi, still in Minato's arms, lower her hand and glare at me.

"Next time, I'll be prepared!" She claimed, determination burning in her sea blue eyes. "And I'll defeat you!"

"Hmm." I lowered my mask to give the woman a grin. "I will look forward to it."

"Lady…Rei…" I stopped beside Yashima's fallen form as she laid, her gray eyes clouded with pain looking upwards at the cloudy sky. "I…I tried…but…"

"You should train harder, little bird." I looked at the smaller Sekirei, blood slowly trickling out of her mouth. "In this terrible game we are forced to play, those who do not train themselves into the ground die first and fast. Consider this a lesson. Painful, but necessary."

"I…see…" Yashima coughed, more blood coming out of her mouth and Minato rushed over to her side, his eyes wide in panic, tears forming in them. "I'll…train. I'll…be…stronger."

"Good luck, little bird." I smiled at the girl. "Become strong, for your Ashikabi. Strong enough that he won't have to cry for you."

Yashima merely nodded and closed her eyes, focused on just breathing. Perhaps I've hit her a bit too hard… She should pull through, she's a Sekirei after all, but I think she'll be bedridden for several days if not for a week. Damn, I feel so evil right now, walking away from 3 beaten up Sekirei and their Ashikabi in tears, begging his bird not to die on him. Somehow, the scene scratched at my heart, forcing me to leave, faster than I anticipated.


	26. Gate:Dreams

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>This week is turning out like crap so far, I mused as I walked down some street in Shinto Teito in the evening. I couldn't even approach the MBI Tower without the ghostly feeling in my heart getting exponentially stronger. And the worst thing is, I couldn't do anything about it. Chiho was in Intensive Care Unit, recovering from a series of procedures that cured her illness and she'll stay there for at least several days more.<p>

The pull was so strong that I even began to have dream about her which proved that she was my True Ashikabi more than anything. The pair had to be very damn compatible to get dreams about each other. It's truly a pity the dreams were so short, we barely could get a decent conversation before it ended, the link getting too weak to support itself.

So I had decided to camp out with the Specialists guarding the Shinto Teito perimeter. Overall, I found their company enjoyable. It was kind of funny how much respect they had for the Disciplinary Squad and the complete lack of thereof towards all other Sekirei.

"They are like kids," Anton laughed as he explained it to me in thick Russian accent. "Kids with guns that someone gave them and showed where the trigger was."

"Now, that might seem dangerous," The big man continued, tinkering around with his exo-suit. "But us professionals will merely laugh at their attempts to look cool and intimidating."

"We respect you," Andromeda, a small blond European woman with twin SMGs at her hips picked up where Anton left off. "Because you earned it. The Black Sekirei, the Reaper, the Blue Sekirei and the Red Mist…You'll find that those 4 names are legendary in certain interest groups and circles."

"It's no surprise really." Mathew, a big black-skinned guy with a huge metal shield on his back and an automatic shotgun at his hip continued. "All of us have seen recordings of you in action and quite a few of us were on the clean-up missions to destroy all evidence after you left. Hell, we all even got favourites we all cheer on for!"

"Eh?" I stared at them in shock. These guys cheered us on as we killed their kind? What the hell?

"Yes." Anton moved his arm, testing out the exo-suit after finishing maintenance. "I for one cheer for Benitsubasa. Just seeing that girl take down buildings with a single punch...I get the shivers."

"Oi now," Andromeda poked the guy 3 times her size playfully. "No need to tell us all about your fetishes."

The sight of these 3 Specialist Captains – each one a monster in their own right – bickering like children over which Sekirei in the Disciplinary Squad is the 'best' using the most random criteria was…hilarious. Especially when they began arguing if I and Beni were cheating due to armour or if it was merely our way to catch up to Kara and Haihane. I also asked them if they've ever seen Akitsu in action. I was surprised to learn that Anton happened to be fighting by her side during the 2nd Kamikura Invasion. He spoke of her with reverence and pure awe in his voice.

I didn't take it against him though, from what I read Akitsu practically single-handedly stopped the marines from taking over Kamikura Town. Considering the garrison of the town was only about 50 grunts and as many Specialists, it's no surprise that the thousand marine strong force, reinforced with heavy armour, practically steamrolled the defenders. Or would've had if Akitsu didn't call down several comets to shatter the tank attack and then proceeded to make icy fortifications for the defenders, saving quite a few from instantly dying.

The most interesting thing happened at the end of our talks. Andromeda, bored to tears by her guard duty, challenged me to a fight. She did it with such a desperate expression that I just couldn't resist. Next thing I know, we are on a training ground, Specialists taking seats everywhere while Anton and Mathew took bets – mostly on how long Andromeda would last. There were quite a number of grunts on site too, each one of them expecting a spectacle.

Once everyone was seated, I let Andromeda go first, interested in seeing what she's got. That turned out to be a bad idea, I thought as I blindly dashed forward towards her, my gauntlets shielding my face from the barrage of bullets. I might've tried my usual style of dodge, parry and block but the stream of bullets was literally a stream. Andromeda somehow had 100% perfect accuracy on full auto with her dual SMGs.

No matter how fast I tried to move, her bullets would find me without fail. And so, I chased after her while she sprinted away from me – still laying down that perfectly accurate suppressive fire on me as she ran. The first time I tried to catch up to her during reload was also the last. Not only did she reload both of her SMGs within a second, she almost shot my eye out as I tried to peek to see where she was exactly.

Truthfully, I could've ended the fight anytime I wanted by just using my powers. However, I wanted to see if I could defeat her, a Specialist Captain, without my powers. So far, we got a tie. I couldn't get close enough while she couldn't find a weak spot in my solid armour and was forced to fire at the one place that wasn't armoured: my face.

Thankfully, like all things in this world, bullets tend to end eventually and when this happened, things got interesting. Andromeda holstered her SMGs and pulled out a couple short swords from somewhere. Ah, when I said that things got interesting, they got interesting for me. Although Andromeda's unerring precision in combination with her flawless technique were scary, she did not have Dietrich's ability to foresee my attacks before they even began. That meant that, at the end of the day, she simply couldn't keep up with me, our speeds were just far too different.

"I surrender." She stepped back after a couple minutes into the melee, clearly seeing that I was leisurely examining her at this point.

"To be honest, your melee was better than some Sekirei I've met." I admitted truthfully. Her skills with her SMGs were of course, so good that they didn't even need mentioning. I bet that she could take down most Sekirei just by pouring enough of her perfectly accurate bullets into them. It didn't work on me due to my armour and wouldn't work on higher level Sekirei but I had no doubt that Andromeda could take on a good portion of Sekirei and win. Honestly though, I expected as much; Andromeda was a Specialist Captain for a reason.

Over the week I've fought with Mathew and Anton as well, but the only one of the 3 captains that made me use my powers was Anton. The bugger had a plasma-thrower integrated into his left arm! If I didn't Gate:Open myself, I think he would've barbequed me.

I remember, years ago, how I thought my phase ability was useless. Granted, at the time I could only use Gate:Open after charging it up so it's use was limited. Now though, I can use it practically on the fly and my skill with it increased to the point where I can pretty much constantly spam Gate:Open with my swords. I've long lost track of the number of times Gate:Open saved my life.

Speaking of saving my life, I turned to find a very pissed Yukari, with her melancholic looking Sekirei by her side.

"You…" She literally shook with rage as she glared at me. "How dare you attack my brother!"

"…Wasn't I the one who got challenged?" I questioned the skies, knowing that she wasn't listening anyway.

"I trusted you!" The small girl raged on. "Shiina! Get her!"  
>"As you wish, my Ashikabi." Shiina clearly didn't want to fight me but went along with his Ashikabi's order anyway.<p>

This will be a difficult fight, Shiina's abilities are all area-of-effect and considering his power is Disintegration, any one without long-range abilities is screwed. The thing is though; I am 100% certain that I can kill Shiina. Considering that my abilities cannot be blocked nor parried, only dodged, this means that if I actually went for the kill, Shiina wouldn't stand a chance. However, considering I am going to try and defeat him rather than kill him, the situation is going to turn around a full 180. I simply don't have any abilities that I can safely use without Shiina getting critically injured in the process. Maybe I should just run away?

As I was thinking, Shiina ran up and hit me with a bright glowing palm. Or rather, he swiped at me right before getting into range of my blades and a pale gray wave washed over me.

"What?" Shiina stared at my ghostly form. Hmm, his power is very potent, in the half a second I stood in the blast wave, my tabard and haori turned into dust.

"What to do with you…" I mused as I stared at Shiina who grew more uncomfortable by the second. "I don't want to kill you but I can't defeat you without killing you…dilemma."

"You coward!" Yukari stroke a pose and pointed at me. "Come out and fight!"

"If I do, Shiina will die." My even voice full to the brim of certainty made Yukari flinch. "Or perhaps you are tired of him already? If you want, I can easily give you a way out-"

"No!" Yukari dashed up and covered Shiina with her body…déjà vu? "I'll never let Shiina go! He's my Sekirei and only mine!"

"Then why are you in such a hurry to kill him off?" I asked, confused. "Do you not know who I am?"

"Um..." Yukari scratched her head, embarrassed. "Should I?"

I pulled down my mask and facepalmed.

"Mistress…" Shiina sighed looking dejected. "Why didn't you ask me?"

"Oh come on!" She stomped her foot on the asphalt. "I just winged you 4 days ago! I didn't get a chance to figure anything out…"

"What do you know of the Disciplinary Squad." My eye twitched when Yukari shrugged nonchalantly and then I phased back into the Living Realm. "Right…Phone, call Takami."

"W-wait, w-why would you do that?" Yukari turned so pale that a mutilated corpse would look like the picture of perfect health in comparison.

"Hi Takami!" I cheerfully greeted the woman who grumbled at being disturbed. "Would you by any chance know why your daughter just sicced her Sekirei on me?"

"What." Suddenly, Takami's image came into existence as a hologram and surveyed the scene. Huh, I didn't know Takami managed to sneak install the holo-projector into my armour.

"Yu-ka-ri…" Takami's projection hissed as it advanced at the cringing girl. "You-"

"She attacked brother!" Yukari suddenly stood up straight, a spark coming to life in her eyes. "Because of her, Yashima is in agony right now, struggling to so much as breathe and Minato practically lives by her bedside now!"

Huh…I can't tell if she's madder about the fact that Yashima is injured or that Minato is practically drowning his downed Sekirei with affection and care.

"Yukari…" Takami's projection slumped. "Do you not understand? Had they challenged anyone else of Rei's level, Minato's Sekirei wouldn't be in the hospital. They'd be snug in their graves."

"Yep." I smiled gleefully at horrified Yukari. "Takami and I go way back so I took it easy on Minato and you. I actually have very few abilities that aren't mean to instantly turn my opponent into minced meat so that's why I decided against fighting Shiina."

"See you around!" I waved at the duo and left, Takami still talking to her daughter.

* * *

><p>As the days progressed, Chiho grew distraught in our dreams. Apparently, visits were allowed now as Kara, Beni and Haihane all spent a good deal of their time with their Ashikabi, telling her about the responsibilities of the Disciplinary Squad and what we did. Amusingly, it weren't the horrifying details of the missions we undertook to protect our kind that were bothering her. She was bothered by the fact that she wasn't sure if she could be of any help to us. Kara, impressed by this, suggested that she accompany us for the next mission and Chiho agreed if somewhat reluctantly. She said that she wanted to support us, who did so much for her and for our kind. She was rather apprehensive of the upcoming mission though.<p>

I couldn't do anything for her, being in a dream, all I could do was smile and try to convince her that's so long as she did her absolute best it'll be enough for us. It's not like we will ever let our Ashikabi actually fight with us, that's what we are here for. All we need Chiho to do is to be our anchor, a being we could all return to and know, at the end of the day; regardless of what we did, we would always be welcomed by her. It was as simple as that really, there was no need for her to be in danger. Chiho smiled at this and promised to try her best to always be there for us.

Chiho couldn't wait until she was healthy enough to wing me. She could see just what I was undergoing as I waited for her patiently. Chiho was rather protective of all her Sekirei, as a patient that spent nearly all of her life in constant pain in a hospital; she didn't want those close to her to suffer. She was rather empathic like that.

We also couldn't help but look around, awed by the dreamscape. The dreamscape, according to Takehito, was an amalgamation of surrounding area of both parties and the abilities of the Sekirei. For instance, he theorized, the dreamscape of Homura, number 6, would be Shinto Teito, burning to the ground

In our dreamscape though, we stood upon the roof of the MBI Tower, specifically the helipad upon which all new Sekirei arrived for their new life amongst humans. Around us, the skyscrapers of downtown Shinto Teito rose in challenge to the skies and everywhere was a myriad of soul orbs. In fact, the horizon just turned into a sea of ever shifting pale blue flame maybe but a hundred meters away. Even the surrounding buildings looked hazy making it seem like we are looking through a thick fog at them. The only thing that could be clearly seen through this endless ocean of blue fire was the dark-red sun that shined oppressively upon all. It was strange how this was like the Spirit Realm yet it was fully colored like the Living Realm. An odd combination of the two.

Unlike the real Spirit World, the soul orbs in the dreamscape weren't moving about randomly. Instead, they slowly drifted from somewhere below us towards the sky, like objects caught in a whirlpool. Except it wasn't a whirlpool, not even close. Directly above us was a gigantic black hole which took up most of the pale blue sky and absorbed the infinite mass of the soul orbs. We stood directly below it; one could liken it to being in the eye of the storm – a completely quiet and motionless area. It was as if a gigantic barrier surrounded the MBI Tower upon which we stood. In fact, one could almost liken it as a gigantic relay that pointed straight into the black hole which spun slowly in the sky above.

Sometimes, we just stood there, together, staring up the endless blackness of the reality tear in the sky above us. Just looking at the hypnotically moving endless mass of soul orbs that were disappearing into nowhere.


	27. Gate:Arbiter

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>As I traveled around the city over the week, I saw all types of Sekirei and their Ashikabi companions. Before, most of them hid away or tried to blend in with the populace. Now, they didn't have that kind of luxury anymore. More and more fights were breaking out in the middle of the day in all sorts of areas. We, the Disciplinary Squad, had to patrol the city and stop the fighting in crowded areas. Minaka was in no hurry to turn Shinto Teito into a Necropolis, at least, not yet. And so, we patrolled while the people of this most misfortunate city began to recognise the haori of the Disciplinary Squad as peacemakers of sorts.<p>

More than once, a civilian would run up to me and tell me of a fight in a nearby area and I'd go and either oversee it or stop it if there are civilians in the area. I'd like to say that we always arrived on time but that would be a lie. Over the week, 6 people died and over 10 times that number was injured and this was the result of just accidents. People would get caught by area-of-effect abilities or techniques that weren't even aimed at them.

The people of Shinto Teito began to look around with fear and mistrust, finding MBI positions to be a place of solace in this slowly heating up inferno of war. But what could normal people do in this gigantic mess that Minaka unleashed? The only thing they could do was either run to the nearest MBI outpost, pray to the gods that a Disciplinary Squad member was around, or die.

We, the Disciplinary Squad, became known as the Arbiters by the general public due to the announcement MBI made. Or rather, the White Clown appeared on the TV, spewed some random bullshit, gave us a random title – because the Disciplinary Squad was an inside name only - and then claimed that we are the ones with power to stop any fight we deem harmful to those around. So, for the people of Shinto Teito, we became their pillars of peace.

We were treated with great respect and, in some cases, even reverence. This was due to the fact that most Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs would drop the fight and run if there was word of our approach. The few that stayed and fought would always keep a wary eye on us, ready to leg it if we so much as disapprove of the current situation.

I honestly don't quite understand their paranoia concerning us. It's not like we did anything that would cause us to be labeled as 'flee-on-sight' right? Sure, occasionally some idiot started a fight in a crowded area and would still be fighting when we arrive. Sure, that idiot always ended up in the local hospital after a brutal beat down delivered by us who were rather disgruntled at the continuous running around the city we had to do. It's not like we killed or even permanently maimed anyone, so there wasn't really a need to fear us…right?

The first time Kara got greeted like Kami on Earth by the relieved citizens after stopping a fight she was so shocked that she took off the instant she was finished distributing indiscriminate justice. However, as this became more and more common, she got used to it and even admitted to me, on one of our evening walks, that she enjoyed the worship from these 'lesser creatures'.

As for others, Haihane merely rolled with it while Beni flees the scene due to embarrassment regularly after finishing up her duty. I just ignored the awed and thankful words, they were meaningless to me. I've had enough examples that I absorbed from Archive to know that fame was a fickle and very attention demanding thing. So I just decided not to bother with it.

"Lady Arbiter!" A young boy ran up to me gasping for breath and pointed a house behind him. "C-couple blocks that way – there's a fight!"

I nodded after glancing at the boy for injuries and then jumped up the nearest building, heading for the fight, the boy standing behind me with an open mouth in wonder. I heard the shouting and sound of combat long before I actually arrived. Considering the amount of said noise, I concluded that this was something much more than an average duel between 2 Sekirei meeting each other on a narrow street.

I sat down on the edge of the roof with my legs hanging down into nothingness, watching the battle unravelling before me intently. I think this might be the first massive battle in the Sekirei Plan history. The actors on this intersection which acted as a stage for this scene were: Minato hugging Yashima who sat on a wheelchair, both of them a short distance away from the fight. Then there was Musubi engaged in a brawl with that stripper from Chiho's hospital, Ichi-something her name was I think. Toyotama was dueling with a slowly heating up Tsukiumi who was getting frustrated at having all of her attacks getting dodged or blocked by her opponent's staff. Toyotama on the other hand dueled almost lazily, preferring to keep an eye on the situation and occasionally give out orders to her allies. Almost like a general of sorts on a battlefield.

The final actors of this entertaining midday show, was a young, familiar looking Sekirei and a teenage boy who both fled from a very angry Sekirei with 2 massive, evil looking blades. Occasionally, the fleeing Sekirei would briefly stop and hit her pursuer with a screech that shattered all nearby windows and disoriented her opponent for a little bit, allowing them to escape.

And so this whole thing continued for several minutes, until the sword Sekirei became so pissed that she stopped pursuing her targets and instead went for the nearest enemy she could see. This happened to be Minato who clutched his wounded Sekirei to his chest, watching the fight warily. However, he couldn't do more then get his precious cargo more than a couple meters before the sword Sekirei was upon them. Now, that wouldn't do, I thought as I jumped down and dashed to intercept. This fight is far too entertaining to end just yet.

"Wha-?" The sword Sekirei's eyes expanded in surprise when, instead of rending flesh and watching blood spurt out, a shower of sparks erupted from our interlocked blades.

"Now, now…" I said pleasantly as I forced her back with a shove. "Attacking Ashikabi is against the rules."

"Arbiter!" The girl hissed, recovering into a stance.

"Lady Rei?" Hmm, at least Yashima recovered enough to speak well, even if her middle was heavily bandaged and she looked pale.

"Ah, hello Reaper." Toyotama whirled her staff, shattering a dragon looking water spray into mist.

"You!" I think the only reason Tsukiumi didn't attack me instantly was that she knew that Toyotama wouldn't miss the chance to strike her in her back.

"Hello Lady Rei!" Musubi spared me a wave before launching herself back at her foe.

Meanwhile the girl before me clenched her teeth and stared at me in pure rage.

"I don't care who you are, Arbiter." She spit the last word out like it was a deathly insult and then charged me. "But you'll die all the same!"

"Kaiha!" Toyotama called out to her ally. "Stop it, you're going to die!"

"Shut up, I got this!" Kaiha yelled back, her blades constantly lashing out at me in a torrent of sparks as I parried. "I'll take this bitch down!"

I merely smiled behind my mask as I stood my ground, my back only a meter away from Yashima and her Ashikabi who tried to gently get her away from the fight. Amusingly enough, unlike her allies, the girl before me wasn't dressed like a stripper. If anything, her choice of clothes were downright tame and looked rather like the robes Miya wears. She did have a few differences like different colors and her sleeves were much bigger than Miya's, covering up the position of her hands on her hilts.

"Not bad." I admitted to the girl before me before amping up my speed and strength a notch. "Your technique is good, decent strength and excellent speed."

The girl growled at me like a wildcat as I began to force her back, my style of ignoring glancing blows giving me a significant advantage over my unarmoured opponent who had to do extra movement to avoid getting hit.

"But it seems it's not enough, mmm?" I grinned, my fake condoling tone tipping my opponent over the edge and sending her into berserker rage. This increased her speed and strength significantly, but sacrificed her technique and tactical thinking. This played a foul trick on Kaiha as, even though I was blocking and evading a lot more often now, all of my blows now landed and I had to limit myself to nicking her flesh and rending her clothes.

I frowned, if this continued, Kaiha would end up getting a Level 3 Deactivation from sheer blood loss and I wasn't quite ready to start killing my kin. So…

"Overall, decent." I sheathed my swords, Kaiha coughing out her insides at my feet, clutching her stomach. It was rather easy to defeat the berserker who couldn't even think anymore from the overwhelming rage. A simple Gate:Open to destroy her blades with one sword and the other buried it's hilt in her gut which ended the little duel.

"Kaiha!" Toyotama cursed under her breath at the sight of the weeping girl curled up in fetal pose in the pool of her own red tinged sick. "Ichiya, we are retreating!"

Before anyone could do anything, the pair dashed away and was gone in seconds, leaving their startled opponents behind.

"Hmm…" I hummed disappointedly at the end of this fight. "I hoped they'd stay."

"That was so cool!" Musubi looked at me with stars in her eyes. "Lady Rei is so strong!"

"Tch, what are you here for." Tsukiumi looked at me with intense dislike. "Here to fight us once more?"

And just like that, the atmosphere changed. Musubi and Tsukiumi both took stances while Minato, who was talking with the Ashikabi of the screeching girl, suddenly dashed in front of Yashima, covering her form from me with his body. The sound Sekirei hesitantly took a pose, fear in her eyes as she eyed my haori.

"Just your friendly neighbourhood Arbiter passing by." I lowered my mask to grin at Tsukiumi whose eye twitched. "Unless you want to challenge me again?"

Tsukiumi glowered for a second, opened her mouth to retort but then, much to my surprise, she looked over to Yashima and hesitantly shut her mouth.

"What shall you do with this Sekirei you defeated?" She finally asked instead of whatever she was going to say.

"Yea, are you going to deactivate that crazy girl?" The teenage Ashikabi took a step forward even as Kaiha cringed, curling up in a tight ball.

"Mmm…" I glanced down at the downed Sekirei and then turned to Tsukiumi. "Can you wash her please?"

Tsukiumi obliged with a slight pause, as if not sure what I was asking her of. A gentle wave washed away everything Kaiha threw up and left the naked girl gasping for breath, the shreds of clothing she had ripped away.

I took off my haori, wrapped up the startled, shivering girl and picked her up into my arms. Everyone just stared at me with wide eyes, Minato and his Sekirei confused at my actions while the teenager and his Sekirei gawked at my armour.

"Bye bye." I grinned at them and began to walk off, the Sekirei in my arms looking up at me with bigger eyes than I though was physically possible.

"W-what are you going to do with her?" Minato called at my back, confusion clear in his voice.

"Just taking her back to her Ashikabi." And so I left everyone stunned as I walked to Hiyamakai Hospital.

"W-why?" A tired voice attracted my attention as I walked down the streets of Shinto Teito, passersby getting out of my way with a fearful glance at the girl wrapped up in my haori. Of course, my dark red armour had absolutely nothing to do with it. I mean, they see tall women clad in plate armour that looks like it belongs in a science fiction story or game every day, right? There was a reason why I avoided nerds though, they were just creepy when they swarmed me every chance they could get asking me where I got the armour that made me look like an 'Adepta Sororita' or something. I don't even know what they were talking about.

"Why what?" I asked absentmindedly as I was trying to figure out which way to turn on this intersection to get to Higa's hospital.

"I-I am your enemy. I…insulted you." She dropped her gaze downward. "I fought to kill you…but…"

She was startled when I began laughing, my hands shaking with amusement.

"You? Enemy?" I took a gasp of air to calm down from the bout of laughter. "To me you are merely a temporary opponent. My wayward kin who doesn't know any better. I do not have any enemies, Kaiha. Not any who still live anyway."

The conversation sort of ended on that cheerful note. Kaiha went back to nurturing her stomach and I kept walking to Higa's hospital. It is kind of funny that I was 100 percent truthful when I said I had no living enemies. After being in Minaka's employ for over 3 years I've realized one, simple truth. Minaka is an escapee from the Local Mental Institution.

Oh, he may act lucid and somewhat normal at times, but that's all it is: an act. The moment something goes against his plans, this façade shatters instantly and the man becomes a foaming, raving lunatic. After understanding this, my hate for the man just…died and I began to pity him instead. I even decided that when I go back in time I won't kill him, I'll merely return him to his rightful place: a white room with padded walls and ever watchful men in white coats.

"Higa would like to speak to you." Toyotama approached me after having a couple Sekirei see Kaiha off to the Emergency Ward. I looked at her for several seconds, it was very disjointing to see a calm woman, aware of her worth and sure of herself…in something a stripper would wear.

"Hmm, I must've made an impression on him last time." I thought out loud, causing Toyotama to laugh softly, her hands over her mouth.

"Yes, you did." She turned around and guided me to Higa's office. However, unlike last time, this time she came in with me and stood by the door. This time around, Higa was pacing before the glass wall looking over Shinto Teito. Upon our entrance, he stopped and turned towards me, his face a stone mask as he studied me intensely.

"Number 51, Rei." He started with a soft, slow tone, his eyes on mine. "One of the 3 remaining Unwinged Sekirei, not counting Akitsu. Member of the 2nd Disciplinary Squad, Lieutenant of the 3rd. Despite numbering 51, your combat ability ranks you amongst the single digits."

At this point I was interesting, some of the things he said implied that he knew things not exactly open to the public. MBI might have a traitor somewhere…again.

"As of now, you hold a record of almost 100 missions completed and a kill count high enough to populate a large town." He continued, his eyes slowly roaming over my armoured form, my haori back on its rightful place. "And yet, for all that power, for all that ruthlessness, you've never terminated a Sekirei. You've never even injured them in a permanent manner. You do not care for humans, that much I can understand, but are Sekirei really that different?"

"Perhaps we are not." I smiled cryptically. "And that's what I like about my kin."

Higa covered his face with his hand; the little bit that I could see was a twitch of his lips. Toyotama on the other hand, stared at me with an odd amalgamation of reverence, surprise and determination.

"I see." Higa finally composed himself and stared at me with his cold eyes. "We are enemies, you defeat my Sekirei – and at the same time you save them. You'll forever remain an enigma to me it seems, a joker of sorts."

"I do not like feeling in debt." He finally got to the point after he got tired of looking at my smirk. "What do you want?"

"What I want, you cannot give." My smile widened. "You can either try and offer something of interest to me now or I'll hold a favour from you."

"After you took Chiho, I feel that I do not have anything right now that would satisfy you." Higa took a deep breath and sat down behind his desk. "Very well, so long as it's reasonable I'll agree to a favour later on."

"Excellent." I smiled and made my way to the window preparing to leave. "Have a-"

"Wait, please!" Toyotama called out, causing me to pause and glance back. "Can you please hold a practise spar with me? I am far beyond my allies and I need a strong opponent to continue growing."

"Mmm…why not?" I turned to face her, interested about her proposition. I've seen her fight with Tsukiumi after all, I think this will be very worthwhile for me.


	28. Gate:Spar

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Once more, I call upon you all to review. I am quite interested on your opinions about this story.

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><p>"Rather popular you are…" I reflected the surroundings as we stood, facing each other in a parking lot outside the hospital. Surrounding us were nearly a dozen Sekirei with Higa and someone who looked his secretary watching us in the background. Toyotama twirled her staff lazily with her right hand slightly off to the side and back, her eyes looking over me analytically. I simply stood at the ready, my swords pointing slightly downward before me.<p>

"Get her Captain!" The Sekirei around us cheered for Toyotama.

"Khmm, well, yes." Toyotama coughed, embarrassed from the support her fellow Sekirei showed her. "Higa always puts me as a leader in any venture I attend, so…"

"Hmm, well, here I go then." I nodded and then gave her a warning before dashing over. Toyotama's skill with her staff was very impressive to me. Not only did she block both of my blades but she also used the momentum gained by the block to jab the other end of her staff at me with blinding speed. It was a good thing my haori was currently hanging on the fence as otherwise she would've torn it off. I barely managed to dodge her strike, the end of the staff grazing my chest plate. I smiled, underestimating Toyotama was not a good idea and this was good because that meant I could amp up my speed and power.

It was a very interesting fight to say the least. I've never seen such skill with staves as Toyotama and her power…well, if Archive's hypothesis was correct, Toyotama was truly a mage slayer. Archive suggested that the stave Sekirei could siphon her enemy's power and even more interestingly, she could also siphon her opponent's power from the strikes and abilities that land on her staff. I wondered how she was able to ignore Tsukiumi for the most part and the probable answer was that Toyotama drained all the energy in her attacks, leaving just water which – albeit cold and plentiful – did nothing but give her a shower.

With each strike redirected, I could feel that some of my power I always kept stored in my blades would drain, forcing me to refresh it. I decided against using any of my abilities in this duel as this was a training session and Archive very much doubted that Toyotama was able to drain power fast enough to prevent Gate:Open from destroying her weapon. This meant that, because I didn't want the spar to end, I'd have to fight her with my physical abilities only, for now. And as impressive as they were, Toyotama was a master of redirection, her power ensuring nothing less. When not using my blades as an accelerator for her staff strikes, she'd tap my blades away from her body while also jabbing at me.

Still, we fought on as seconds turned into minutes, our speed and power behind our strikes slowly increasing. Soon, I was fighting as hard as when I was fighting Kara and at this point Toyotama could do nothing but defend with an occasional strike at me with from a redirected blow. She was strong, that I'll easily give and I'll even add that she impressed me greatly. I think she's the first non-single digit Sekirei who managed to do so. That being said, it's not like I actually fought many of my kind. Now that I think of it, there were…maybe 10 different Sekirei I've fought to date? I honestly don't know how many more gems lie out there like Toyotama.

It was 10 minutes into the fight and Toyotama began to breathe heavily while I began to show signs of fatigue too. Albeit Toyotama could siphon my energy, I was by far more durable and had more stamina then her. Honestly, the saving point of her style was that she never blocked, only redirected and dodged. In fact, her whole style seemed to conserve energy as much as possible and it was interesting, because I didn't think that someone with her power type would ever need to conserve energy.

"Can we start using our powers now?" Toyotama used the moment of respite to ask me as we stood across each other, a step away from engaging back into combat.

"Why not?" I shrugged and smiled at her wary glance at my blades which began to glow with an ethereal blue flame.

"Lance!" Toyotama jabbed at me as she jumped up high and away, her staff glowing purple and a beam of violet light stabbed out at me from above.

"Gate:Open." I slashed at the attack, redirecting it into the Spirit Realm. "Huh, didn't think you'd have long range attacks."

"I never said I didn't." She smiled and slashed at me with her glowing staff. "Crescent!"

This one I opted to dodge, letting the narrow wave of purple energy to continue past me and slam into a truck, cleaving it into two and carrying on for a couple more meters before dissipating into thick purple smoke. Now that we began using our powers, the Sekirei watching all took stances to flee at the first moment of trouble, their eyes studying us warily.

It was interesting, Toyotama stopped fighting me in melee and instead began to keep me at distance throwing around energy attacks which I either dodged or redirected into the Spirit World. Now that's all nice and fine, but I couldn't catch up to her! I actually noticed this a while back but my armour really doesn't let me chase after my targets. It allows nigh-perfect mobility in a fight but its weight slows me down when I try to catch up to someone significantly. This meant that the much lighter Sekirei was…what the fuck?

"I see you appreciate my wings?" Toyotama smiled at my dumbfounded expression as she hovered a dozen meters off the ground, her vivid amethyst Sekirei wings gently flapping to keep her up in the sky. "I am rather surprised by how much power I was able to steal off of you."

Huh…so she saved up all of her power to turn into a flying caster fighter in the latter stages of the fight. I must admit, this was a solid strategy against practically any opponent that doesn't instantly kill her within the first several seconds of combat. And if she did meet such an opponent, something tells me that she could use her own power to fly away for at least long enough to escape. It truly was a pity that she was a future opponent. What I wouldn't give to have someone like her on the Disciplinary Squad.

"You know," I stood below her, looking up. "If you weren't winged, we'd have recruited you into Disciplinary Squad instantly."

"But, unfortunately, that cannot be done anymore." I sighed heavily even as everyone else was shocked into silence. "Gate:Swap."

Toyotama tried to outfly the pale blue wave but the shock of my statement slowed her down enough for it to clip her and pull her into the Spirit World with most of the parking lot coming with us. I put a lot of energy into this ability to ensure that not only does it cover a big area, more importantly, that it doesn't break upon contact with the Siphoning Sekirei.

"Welcome, to the Spirit Realm." I welcomed Toyotama who was looking around with great interest across the black and white world. "Please stay inside the dome at all times or you'll be trapped here for ever."

Speaking of which, I really should experiment to see if what I say is actually true. I've never had anyone actually get out of the dome when I pulled them in. They either took what I said for granted or they didn't live long enough to get out. I should go pick up some trash or something after this fight and see what happens when they get out.

"You can't chase me so you limit the area where I could run." Toyotama analysed as she hanged near the top of the dome, her immaterial wings flapping gently. "An arena of sorts."

"But you still can't reach me." She looked down and jabbed her spear at me again. "Lance."

I dodged this one and grinned at my hovering opponent. I may not be able to fly, but jumping 10 meters into the air? Piece of cake.

"Woah!" Toyotama fell out the air with wide eyes, fragments of her staff falling beside her. I caught her before we made contact with the ground and found myself, once again, with a Sekirei in my arms. Unlike Kaiha, this one pouted at me though.

"Damn it, so close." She closed her eyes and tipped back her head with a sigh. "If only I didn't grow so complacent with my wings."

"Well, I'll admit, this was by far, one of the best fights I've ever had." I stood up straight from the small crater and looked at Toyotama who was relaxing in my grip. "…Don't tell me you're about to fall asleep."

"Mya…" Toyotama yawned and opened one icy blue eye to look at me hazily and then shut it again. "Tired…"

"Tch." I huffed and sat down, careful not to pinch her waterfall of green hair. I guess it makes sense that Toyotama falls asleep instantly after admitting defeat. After fighting for 15 minutes at the height of her power, the moment she finished the stressful event, Toyotama fell asleep to recover both her strength and her nerves. Honestly, I found her to be an excellent training opponent. Fighting her was sort of like fighting Yume, just without the overpowered part and with her fighting with weapons rather than fists. Well, that and Yume couldn't fly.

"Are you going to come back from this…Spirit Realm?" Higa stopped at the edge of the barrier, looking through the hazy blue thing at me and his Sekirei, something lurking in his eyes as he looked at Toyotama. "If you wouldn't mind, I need my right hand back here with me."

"Care about her, do you?" I looked at him, interested to hear his response. Higa just didn't strike at me like someone who would care about all of this love bullshit Minaka spewed.

"It would be rather difficult to continue without the person who is the captain of my forces and my personal assistant." Higa acknowledged easily, his hands in the pockets of his dress pants as he looked at me into my eyes. "Toyotama is irreplaceable to me so if you wouldn't mind, I'd like her back now."

What a strange way to care about his Sekirei. On one hand, he makes it known that she nothing more than an irreplaceable piece for him on this giant chessboard of Shinto Teito, on the other hand…the fact that he stated that she is irreplaceable alone harbours some thought. Perhaps there was more between the two then a cold business relationship. Who knows? According to Takehito, the bond gently affects both parties, making it much simpler to fall in love with each other. Maybe Toyotama truly did become something more for Higa. Not that I'll ever know, the man would deny it even if it killed him.

"…This ability collapses by itself and then throws back everything within the dome back into the Living Realm." I finally answered after coming back from my thoughts. "I think a couple more minutes and the bubble will burst."

Higa nodded resolutely and then sat down on the hood nearby car, waiting. All around us Sekirei were talking about the fight in excited tones and the revelation I handed out during the fight. It would seem the fact that their leader was judged to be good enough for Disciplinary Squad was very important to them.

As I predicted, the dome collapsed within 2 minutes and suddenly, Toyotama was out of my grasp and into Higa's careful one as he walked away without sparing me a glance. I simply smiled at his show of care, to think that he was capable of something like that; perhaps the Ashikabi of the East is going to go further than anticipated in this war.

Looking at the carefree Sekirei gossiping with each other, I couldn't help but ruin the mood with a final jab before leaving.

"Toyotama is good, excellent even." I called out to them, causing them all to stop and listen. "But there's a reason I am only a Lieutenant of the Disciplinary Squad. Perhaps you lot should stop hiding behind her back and show us what you can become?"

And with a smile, I left, the Sekirei behind me muttering about cheaters.

As I wandered the quiet for once evening city, I talked to Uzume who decided to enlighten my evening with her presence. She talked about how she got banned from Chiho's room, gesturing wildly while I laughed at the situation. Apparently, Uzume tried – for gods know which time – to suffocate her Ashikabi with kisses once more when Akitsu dropped by and banned her from Chiho's room for eternity or until Chiho recovers, whichever comes first. When Uzume tried to argue, she suddenly found herself frozen solid in an ice crystal and workers, with many swears, transported her out and into her room on the Disciplinary Floor.

At this, I grew interested. Uzume got her own room? Turns out she did, according to her she had no idea what to do with the gigantic space given. She tried filling it up with the battalion of stuffed animals and costumes she had but even after that and a bunch of furniture she still had plenty of room to spare. She even asked me how I managed with the emptiness. At this point I laughed and said I didn't. The amount of times I actually slept in my room per month could be counted on the fingers of 1 hand. I generally slept in Kara's room and we were quite fine with the situation.

Ignoring Uzume's pout I asked what her symbol was on the door. When she looked at me, confused, I explained that we all had our symbols engraved on our room doors rather than names. I told her of my orb of blue flames, Kara's black sword on a red field, Yume's golden sun encasing the Sekirei symbol, Haihane's tornado around crossed claws and Beni's dark red wings spread out in their full glory. Uzume nodded in understanding and said that her symbol was apparently the Sekirei symbol wrapped up in white cloth. I nodded in thought; it did fit the Veiled Sekirei to have such a symbol.

I also brought up the topic of Uzume's training; Kara was very intent on bringing Uzume up to her standards. This of course meant hours of constant sparring where Uzume desperately tried her best to avoid getting skewered by the lightning fast Black Sekirei. Although she complained to me loudly about the harsh conditions, she, equally quietly, said that she very much appreciated the training and felt much stronger than before. Well, at least she now lasted 15 seconds against a serious Kara as opposed to 3 when she just started. Quite an achievement, I smirked.

She was also very apprehensive of the upcoming mission on which we will all go with Chiho. Uzume was very much against it but admitted that it was necessary and, for all her vocal whining, agreed to do it. They both needed to understand us, the Disciplinary Squad who became their new family.

Uzume decided to stick around with me, patrolling the city. Considering that she was unwelcome in the Tower during Chiho's recovery and the fact that Kara phoned over and told me to handle her training for now, everything turned out fine.

"Are you seriously trying to kill me?!" Uzume yelped as she ran from my gently glowing swords, not willing to let Gate:Open anywhere near her. Her veils trailed behind her, occasionally trying to envelop me or spear me. I simply ran on, ripping through her veils trying to slow me down.

"Yes I am, did you just realize that?" I laughed at the fleeing Sekirei. "And then Chiho will belong to me, all alone! Mwahahha!"

"Why you!" Uzume turned around and unleashed a barrage of veils at me, skidding along the ground as her veils supported her in pseudo-levitation. "That'll never happen!"

"And who's going to stop me?" I dodged, blocked and parried my way over to the sweating Sekirei who tried everything she had to slow my approach. Although Uzume could will practically unlimited amount of threads and cloth into existence, she couldn't split her mind to give out more than 6 commands at the same time to her veils. Considering she could have up to a hundred veils out at once at this point, the fact that she had to split them into 6 groups to manage them efficiently wasn't all that great. That and the fact of the matter was that she hadn't really practised her role as a tactician to command all of her veils individually. If she could think of 6 simultaneous different attacks and perhaps even combo them, then even Kara would have a difficult time getting to her.

And so, most of our training was her trying to figure out how to use her veils to attack me at once during combat. Every morning started with us just standing across one another as she practises her control and tactical thinking while I stand there and defend against everything she tosses at me. As a support – ranged fighter, Uzume is a very valuable addition to the team. So long as she can stand there and concentrate, she is a very difficult opponent to fight. Why, just this morning during the exercise, she managed to hit me several times and those were good, solid hits. However, the problem arises when we try to do actual combat like right now. She can't use her abilities well under pressure and her control drops from 6 to 2-3 maximum which is by far not enough to overwhelm me.

So, the verdict so far is that she is by far not ready for solo action. She's great as support but that's about it…I sighed and stopped, my blades at her throat once more.

"So much to do, so little time…"


	29. Gate:Bridge

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"This is MBI post number 49, we are under attack! The electrical substation is destroyed!"<p>

"This is MBI post 55 we have been overwhelmed! Require immediate assistance! Oh god the plants-!"

"This is Specialist Valerii of post 64, we are under attack by multiple Sekirei, we cannot hold out for long! Watch out-!"

"This is Captain Anton, we are on our way to post 49, Captain Andromeda is on her way to post 55, Captain Mathew is on his way to post 64-"

"This is Arbiter Rei speaking. Belay that order for Mathew, I am moving out to post 64." I cut into the MBI frequency that practically erupted into chaos this late evening.

"Roger that, Captain Mathew is on standby." Mathew's gruff, disappointed tone called back.

"Uzume, we need to go." I turned to my fellow Sekirei who was looking at me with a serious expression as I spoke. "Someone is attacking MBI positions in the North, the location we are going, number 64, is an old train bridge. We must hurry."

"Alright." Uzume nodded and transformed her normal clothing into her battle outfit. Unlike her outfit from before that favoured mobility, this one had several veils orbit protectively about her. After getting nearly sliced and diced courtesy of me and Kara, Uzume learned to appreciate having something between her body and our blades. It was so nice to see improvement of our student and it only took a week and about 30 duels with an overwhelming opponent that left her panting on the ground in pain.

We dashed over to the North, the bridge only a couple minutes away from the restaurant I and Uzume were relaxing in. Well, for a Sekirei's dash that is. Amusingly enough, we, the Arbiters, learned to appreciate the fearsome reputation that Miya has created to protect her Takehito from the Sekirei Plan. It was so nice patrolling here, nothing ever happened as everyone was far too afraid of calling down the wrath of the Hannya of the North. Although Kara wasn't particularly entertained by Miya's title, I found it rather fitting. Anyone who was on the receiving end of that creepy mask of hers agreed with me. Takami mentioned something about Miya learning it from Takehito but I've never seen the guy do it and, I mean, he was a regular human wasn't he? Not even a Specialist so there's no way that he could have had that freaky thing before Miya.

As we dashed on, I could see fire begin spewing out black smoke into the evening sky, rising from the bridge we were running to. We could see and hear the explosions and gunfire from this point but it was very sporadic and weak, it would seem that the MBI soldiers are almost overrun. Damn it, we were still about 60 seconds out, I don't think we'll arrive on time to save anyone. From this distance, I could barely make out the shadows dancing about; dodging the ordinance the MBI soldiers sprayed them with. There were…4? No, there were 5 Sekirei attacking and they were already at the main outpost, only the final barricade was still intact and offering some resistance.

At a closer distance, I could see them overwhelm the final barricade and then one of the Sekirei began a duel with a Specialist judging by their characteristically dark red uniform as opposed to the standard black MBI grunt uniform. The rest of the Sekirei gathered around in a loose circle, their Ashikabi coming behind. All in all, I saw 5 Sekirei and 5 Ashikabi.

"Stay behind me and provide long range support." I ordered Uzume as we closed in, seconds away from reaching our destination. Seeing Uzume nod I put on a final burst of speed and landed just in time to knock away several throwing daggers a Sekirei threw at the Specialist. The man was tired and overall looked like crap but unlike the rest of his group he was still on his feet and battle able. A small distance behind me, Uzume fluttered down, her veils coiling around her like snakes, ready to strike anything their master points them at.

"I am pretty sure attacking MBI is against the rules." I smiled dangerously at the group before me, my mask on my neck as I was too busy trying to get here to put it on.

"Arbiter!" One of the Ashikabi, a brown haired guy in a hoodie exclaimed.

"Lady Rei!" I stared at Musubi in shock, Minato's pale form standing slightly behind her.

"Oh god, it's the Reaper." Another Ashikabi, this one a familiar teenager, his sound Sekirei staring at me with fear as she peeked from behind her Ashikabi's back.

"Rei?" Oh gods, what have I done lately to deserve this? What the hell is Yukari and Shiina doing here!?

"Milady!" The Specialist saluted. "Reporting near total casualties, I believe I am the last one left ma'am."

"I see." My voice grew quiet and soft as I glanced back at the man. "Leave."

"Yes ma'am!" The man saluted and ran off, with a slight limp, towards the other end of the bridge.

"So." I looked at the group before me, my eyes narrowed. "You come here, kill MBI's personnel and then expected to get away with it? I am sorry, that is no longer an option."

"We didn't kill anyone…" The girl with short red hair in a schoolgirl outfit with daggers held at the ready pouted. "Just knocked them out and maybe cut them a bit."

"We are trying to escape MBI, not make it hunt us down." The Ashikabi standing beside the girl in a tracksuit with the claymore – familiar looking girl if I might add, did I see her somewhere before? – said quickly. "We were going to come here, knock them all out and leave, we don't want any more trouble."

"Ah, I see." My voice lost the dangerous tone as I relaxed a bit. "That's good that means I won't have to kill you all. Now, leave before I change my mind."

"We won't." The teenager with the plain clothed sound Sekirei stepped forward, determination in his eyes. "We won't partake in this sick game. We won't risk our loved ones for some mad man and his plan!"

"Mmm, although I understand your point," I sighed heavily. "I cannot allow you to pass. Sorry."

And with that, everyone took a battle position in a semi-circle around me as I drew my blades slowly.

"I see you aren't going to leave." I stood in my usual stance, my blades pointing slightly towards the ground and before me. "I guess Uzume and I will have to stop you then."

"Uzume?" Minato and Yukari chorused, wide eyed at the Veiled Sekirei behind me. "Is that really you?"

"Tch, you just had to tell them Rei." Uzume took off her hood and looked at me with dislike.

"Ah, so sorry." I glanced back sheepishly. "I thought you told them."

"Told us what?" The siblings stared at Uzume intently.

Uzume glanced at me but I merely shrugged, this was hers to deal with. I am not going to break anything else by accident here.

"I ended up joining the Disciplinary Squad." Uzume stated casually. "Both I and my Ashikabi. So I am now Arbiter Uzume, pleased to meet you all!"

"Eh!?" At this pretty much everyone looked at Uzume with newfound fear. The Disciplinary Squad was well known for its high standards and power after all.

"B-but how?" Yukari stuttered, staring at the person she thought was a friend. "What happened? Why are you against us now?"

"MBI did something that leaves me in their eternal debt." Uzume looked at me with silent thanks. "Or rather, Rei did and because of that I am now here, covering her back."

"Does it matter?" The Ashikabi with the hoodie exclaimed. "We have 5 Sekirei here against these 2! We even got the Devil Ashikabi and her Shinigami on our side! There's no way we can lose this."

"Are you a moron?" The guy, whose arm was around the claymore Sekirei's waist, glanced at the man, inciting a growl from the Sekirei with knives. Hmm, apparently she belongs to him. "This the Reaper we are talking about here, the only way this situation could possibly be worse if the Black Sekirei was here. Mai and I have fought against her before; we got obliterated in under a minute."

"So? I've heard the Shinigami has one-shot several Sekirei already, how is this going to be any different." The hoodie argued.

"Stop arguing!" Yukari stamped her foot on the cement. "We are running out of time! Either we try or all of our efforts will be for nothing! Shiina!"

"Death Flower!" Shiina dashed forward and unleashed a disintegration blast that went right through me on the account that I phased into Soul Form moment prior. I dashed through him and whirled around going back to the Living Realm, preparing to stab him in the back.

"Alright, go Mai!" The guy with the claymore Sekirei shouted, his Sekirei dashing forward, her greatsword causing me to abort my attack on Shiina's back to dodge the blow that bit deep into the cement cover of the bridge.

"Get her Leiko!" Hoodie commanded his dagger Sekirei into combat.

"Musubi…" Minato turned to his Sekirei and hugged her. "Be safe."

"Kuno…you know what to do." The teenager with the sound Sekirei looked at me grimly.

"Yes, Lord Ashikabi!" Musubi nodded cheerfully and charged at me. "I'll show you that I got better!"

"Avoid her swords when they glow blue!" Yukari shouted at the melee, making sure that her allies don't get caught off guard.

This was a very…confusing fight. It was also hell of a fun one! Mai spun in a dance with her claymore locking me down. Musubi covered Mai's back and prevented me from doing more than occasionally retaliating to whenever possible – which wasn't often. Leiko was trading blows with Uzume whose silk clothes made it impossible for the knife Sekirei to get her however Leiko's real goal was to force Uzume to concentrate on her which she did well. The greatest challenge was actually the fact that they all fought together against me. Musubi, Mai and Shiina held me practically in one spot, unable to do much more than defend against them. Whenever I tried to do something, Kuno would blast me with a narrow screech that would throw me off balance for a moment. Thankfully, Uzume was still doing what she could with Leiko running away from her more often than not and occasionally striking out at the Sekirei fighting me, buying me moments of precious time.

This is not getting anywhere. Although they couldn't use any powerful abilities for the fear of hitting their own, neither could I. Because I trained all of my abilities to be area-of-effect, I couldn't use them on this bridge. Not only is it liable to destroy the whole structure, sending us all down into the icy depths, but it was also guaranteed to kill the MBI soldiers lying about, unconscious. That and I weren't sure that Uzume would be fast enough to get out… And then there's the fact that Takami is liable to kill me if anything happens to Yukari or Minato. Gods damn this whole situation!

I twitched and shifted into Soul Form, an arrow whistling through my head. Great, not only do I have to fight Mai, Musubi, Shiina and Kuno but Mai's Ashikabi pulled a longbow out of nowhere and was currently aiming another arrow at me. What the fuck, where did he get actual arrows from in the first place!? I shifted rapidly back and hacked at Musubi, not even caring anymore about anything at this point. I was moving at speeds close to my maximum and I still couldn't do any significant damage to anyone. I hardly think that bloody scratches and torn clothing on my opponents' counts. As I expected, Musubi leaned back just enough that my one of my blades only drew a line through her clothes while the other was knocked off course by Mai's claymore.

Grrr, I am getting pissed at this whole situation. I am practically forced to fight with only my physical abilities and Gate:Open against 4 Sekirei who actively use their abilities. Albeit Shiina had to use weakened version of his disintegration to avoid friendly fire, it didn't stop it from hurting like a bitch when he hit me dead on with it.

"Rei!" Uzume cried out when she saw me stumble from taking the blow. "Damn it!"

"Oi, where you think you're going?" Leiko threw a couple more daggers that nearly hit Uzume in the head. "I am your opponent. Are you sure you're even an Arbiter? Compared to your friend over there, you're pathetic."

Uzume growled in return and lashed out with nigh-hundred strands at her opponent who had to jump far away to avoid it.

"I…am…getting…annoyed!" I hissed through my teeth as I spun on the spot, my opponents dashing away to avoid getting hit by the circles I drew with my blades as I did 360 degrees. "Gate:Nova!"

The line I drew exploded, a pale blue wave lashing out at everything surrounding it. Gate:Nova was a fairly basic ability that I rarely used as it was far more efficient to use Gate:Open for the amount of damage dealt. Gate:Nova drew power from the concept that to create Gate:Swap I'd draw a circle and then slice it open with Gate:Open. To create Gate:Nova I drew 2 Gate:Swaps in the exact – or almost exact – location and then triggered them. The two Gate pulses collided and the resonance lit everything nearby with blue fire. Or at least significantly heated it up. The interesting thing about Gate:Nova as opposed to Gate:Swap from which it originates, and the reason why I used it, is that the resonance spread out as a thin disk instead of a sphere, meaning that it won't hit the soldiers lying on the ground, far below the disk.

"Argh!" Leiko's Ashikabi screamed as his clothes caught on fire. He got clipped by Gate:Nova when trying to get away and, due to distance, rather than getting instantly incinerated, only his clothes got lit up. Disappointingly, he was the only casualty of my ability. Mai's Ashikabi was too high up for my ability to hit, Shiina, Minato and Yukari hit the ground and avoided the pulse, Mai used her blade as a shield and absorbed the hit. Musubi happened to trip at the last possible moment and fell over, the wave harmlessly passing over her head.

"Master!" Leiko dropped the fight and dashed over to her Ashikabi who was rolling around on the ground, howling in pain. Unfortunately for her, Uzume took the chance to spear her in the back. Leiko managed to twist around and avoid getting terminated instantly but I very much doubt she's going to be fighting anymore, not with three holes in her body.

"Death Garden!"

"F-fuck that h-hurt…" I got up, coughing, and shook my head, my ears ringing and my vision swimming. I dodged Shiina's ability only to get hit by Mai's claymore, much like a baseball meeting a bat. Even though I blocked it, the hit was so strong it hit me into a van which was burning from Gate:Nova. The hit proved to be too much for the poor vehicle and it exploded, sending me flying straight into a bridge beam and as if that wasn't enough, I fell down heavily for about 5 meters right on my back afterwards. I blinked and had to wipe the blood off my face, apparently I was bleeding from my brow.

"We should leave!" Uzume hissed to me, concentrating at forcing back the opposition to prevent them from finishing me off. "You can barely stand!"

"N-no," I blinked again and shook my head slightly, clearing my vision. "I can still go on."

"Until what? There's just too many of them." Uzume said this through her teeth, still concentrating on keeping Mai, Shiina and Musubi back. From what I could see, she was being overwhelmed and rather fast. Shiina blasted aside her veils like they were nothing and Mai sliced through them as gracefully as ever, her sharp claymore leaving the silk no chance. Musubi merely dodged and danced around the veils, gaining ground, a determined look in her eye.

Tch, it looks like I'll really have to get serious here and screw the friendly fire. I can't lose like this.

"Uzume." I called out calmly, my swords glowing blue at the ready. "Get out of the way."

As Uzume leapt back, I walked forward slicing an incoming arrow in 2 without pause. Thanks to Uzume taking out Leiko it was now only 4 on 2, much better…fuck…

"Looks like I have arrived just in time!" Tsukiumi landed on the bridge mere meters away, simultaneously dumping a large amount of water to extinguish the flames on Leiko's Ashikabi. Meanwhile, Yukari and Kuno's Ashikabi were tending to Leiko, trying to bandage her up to prevent her bleeding out.

"Tsukiumi!" Minato dashed over with relief on his face. "You came!"

"O-of course I came!" Tsukiumi blushed at Minato's greeting. "Now I will finally have my revenge from that battle!"

"Hmm." I scratched the back of my head with the hilt of my right blade. "This is getting serious."

"You thought we were joking around before!?" Mai's Ashikabi exclaimed in disbelief, lowering his bow slightly.

"Well, yea." I smiled at the shocked guy. "I mean, I wasn't aiming to kill you before. Now though, I don't think I have that sort of freedom anymore."

"I really didn't want to kill MBI's men by accident," I continued my blades glowing brighter. "But it would seem that I have no choice anymore."

"Shiina, back!" Yukari called out as she grabbed Leiko and dragged her away with all of her haste, Kuno's Ashikabi helping.

"Gate:Random." I calmly called out even as I stabbed my blades into one spot directly in front of me, emptying all of the power I stored into them. Before me appeared a small circle, a hole into the Spiritual Realm that lasted for a moment until I slashed outwards to rip it open with a low sound that resonated within everyone present.

"What the-" Mai's Ashikabi was probably about to swear but Mai didn't let him. She charged him and grabbed his body with one arm while dashing away at full speed, her Ashikabi hanging on her arm, his bow forgotten on the car. She managed to save her Ashikabi just in time too; the car he stood on suddenly was torn into three by a pale blue Aurora-like tendril that bent in a weird shape. More and more of these tendrils lashed out in random directions and in random ways, all originating from the Rift I created. The one place they never did hit though was where I was standing. They'd coil around me but they would never directly go for me.

The bridge groaned, parts of its construction suddenly going missing as they were pulled into the Spirit Realm. A tendril phased a huge part of the supporting beam structure that trailed over our heads and suddenly, there were large metal beams falling everywhere as they were now missing their support. One of the beams clipped Shiina, a pained scream erupting from the young Sekirei as his arm hanged limply, blood dripping down the shredded arm sleeve.

I watched, in sad silence as several of the tendrils sliced through the men lying unconscious on the scene, parts of their bodies leaving them to go to the Spirit Realm. At least they all died quickly and without agony, most of them bleeding out instantly as large parts of their bodies suddenly weren't there anymore.

"Minato!" I looked over at Yukari's desperate shout to see Minato standing, frozen in horror, as one of the metal beams fell on him. I sighed and closed my eyes in tired acceptance. This was why I haven't used my usual abilities so far in the Sekirei Plan; they were just doomed to hit something I wasn't aiming for. I had so very few abilities that weren't extremely dangerous to everyone around me. Even Gate:Open, which I use all the time, can instantly kill a Sekirei if I am not careful.

"Musubi!" A heart wrenching cry caused me to open my eyes and I stared in surprise at the scene before me. Minato was on his knees, extreme shock on his pale face, before Musubi who lay unmoving under the beam that was intended for him. It seems that she pushed him out of the way but was unable to get out from under the beam in time to save herself. The bridge groaned once more as the Rift began to slowly close, the tendrils of broken barrier between the realms slowly stitching shut. Then came the secondary effect of Gate:Random.

Gate:Random pulled anything it touched into the Spirit Realm for a short while and, when it closed, everything that was pulled in was ejected back into the same spots it was taken from. The trouble was, generally after a piece of a whole is taken out, the rest of said whole shifts due to gravity or pressure from other parts. Regardless, almost always, the original spot that the phased object used to occupy is taken. So what happens when said object tries to phase back into the Living World? It pushes aside everything that is in the way of it getting back into its rightful place and it does so violently.

With soft splashing noises, the missing pieces of the soldiers reappeared but in all the wrong positions. Because the bridge shuddered and shifted, the soldier's pieces also shifted and so now I had the dubious pleasure of seeing pieces of MBI grunts caught by friendly fire fly all over the place as they were ejected by the reappearing parts. Even worse where the bridge parts that phased back in only to find their places were occupied by shifted structure. Some were relatively lucky and came back to simply find that their support wasn't there anymore and they merely fell down. The rest…

I knelt, my swords hacked deep into crumbling cement, anchoring me to the spot, as the bridge moved. Again, the beams, the rubble and even some cars now were sent flying by reappearing missing parts. How the bridge still stood at this point, with huge sections of it missing, I do not know. Above me was Uzume, swearing like a sailor as she hanged on for her dear life on what little remained of overhead bridge support. And then, finally, everything began to stop. The Rift closed completely, all the parts were either back in their place or forced their way back into place and the bridge finally stopped moving. It still looked like it miraculously survived a heavy artillery strike though, with large portions of both the sides, the overhead bridge support and even the actual bridge floor missing, sunken somewhere deep in the river.

I turned my gaze from my surroundings to my opponents, interested to see what actually happened to them. Mai and her Ashikabi were nowhere to be seen, Leiko and her Ashikabi were with Kuno and her Ashikabi who were at the far end of the bridge, afraid to approach the severely damaged middle. Yukari and Shiina stood beside them, Yukari fussing over her pale Sekirei who clutched at his unnaturally bent arm, blood dripping down it. She even proceeded to rip at her skirt to make makeshift bandages for him. The only ones still in the immediate vicinity were Minato, who was weeping over Musubi's body, Musubi who was still motionless under the great beam and Tsukiumi who hacked at the beam with what looked like her water sword but this one, unlike the last time I saw it, seemed to be made of extremely compressed water, easily slicing through solid metal a foot thick. Hmm, looks like she evolved her powers since last time I saw her.

Overall, the damage inflicted was rather light, Gate:Random didn't actually hit anyone aside from the MBI grunts and all of the damage done was due to the bridge coming apart. I honestly didn't expect anything else from my only Siege type ability. My goal wasn't to take down my opponents; it was to destroy this damn bridge. Which still fucking stood! What the hell, I've destroyed buildings and battleships with Gate:Random yet this damn bridge just doesn't want to go down.

"Next time, could you warn me before you bring about a local Armageddon!?" Uzume floated down to stand beside me, her face pale and sweaty from the stress she underwent. Several of her veils seemed torn, regenerating from the damage even as she spoke.

"Sorry." I smiled gently, embarrassed. "I kind of got used to Kara never getting hit by it so I somehow thought you'd be fine. I'm sorry."

"Tch," Uzume sighed and then turned to look at the drama before us, a pained look on her face. "This…this is what awaits us all in this cruel game, isn't it…"

"Yes." I replied simply and closed my eyes shut, tired, the battle finally getting to me.

"What the-?" Uzume murmured in wonder. I opened my eyes and looked at the sight before me, shocked. Somehow, Musubi got up from under the beam and was glowing a pale yellow light, like there was a sun behind her that illuminated her figure. Except that it was nearly midnight at this point so that was impossible. Yet…

"To all those who stand in the way of love!" Musubi cried out, clenching her fist and striking a pose. "This number 8 will be your opponent!"

I blinked and stumbled forward, wondering offhandedly if the concussion I suffered during battle was causing me to hallucinate.

"Yume?"


	30. Gate:Yume

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"Rei?" Yume in Musubi's body turned and faced me, confused for a moment before her expression changed to disappointment. "So it's you who stands in the way of these loving hearts? How disappointing. Tell me Rei, since when does the Disciplinary Squad attack those it was created to protect?"<p>

I stopped, standing on the edge of a chasm I was about to jump over, Yume on the other side. Her words shocked me into nearly stumbling down into the churning waters below. I couldn't believe my ears, what the hell? Not even a greeting after such a long disappearance and she immediately accuses me?

Suddenly, I felt the feelings I've thought long forgotten resurface; the sorrow of her death, the anger of her ditching us and the despair at realizing that our best chance of securing a good future for our kind was gone. But all of this was soon swallowed by pure rage and sorrow at realizing that the person I admired and thought to be a friend was now standing before me, accusing me of some stupid thing.

"How dare you…" I hissed, hurt and angry. "I sweated, bled and fought beyond the point of exhaustion to protect my kind. I killed so many that if I bothered to count the corpses it would a population of a small city. I did all of this to protect my stupid, blind and dumb race from the darkness of humanity!"

My voice slowly rose as I, unaware of this, practically yelled at Yume, ignoring the mutters between the bystanders. Only Yume mattered to me right now.

"You…you dare call me disappointing? You, who were our hope, our beacon of light who just went and died for a stupid reason; you are our disappointment!" Yume flinched and opened her mouth but I carried on, the emotional steam I accumulated over the years finally venting. "When we buried you, we buried the Hope of all Sekirei with you! The Hope that we could do this without so much sacrifice!"

"Unlike you who gave up, we had to live on! We had to continue protecting our unaware kin from the dangers of Humanity! We had to find a new hope." I began calming down. "A new hope that would lead us through a path of blood, tears, darkness and great loss. A path that would end in the salvation of our kind."

I took a deep breath and took a stance, my swords glowing with power again.

"You know, Captain." I said with a tired voice, the emotional flash draining me. "I cannot allow you to ruin what we spent years to achieve. What we sacrificed ourselves to achieve."

"You spent years killing humans, not searching for a solution." Yume recovered from my rant and stared back at me with defiance. "Love will save us all!"

"Love…" I huffed with a sad smile. "We buried that Love with you, Captain."

"Flee, Uzume." I ordered to the Sekirei behind me and turned to face Yume once more. "Somehow, this is not how I imagined our long anticipated meeting to go on."

"You knew you were going to meet me?" Yume said incredulously. "How?"

"The path we chose, in no small part, because by following it we knew we'd meet once more, sooner or later." I explained, slowly channeling all of my left over power into my blades. "It just seems that the meeting happened before either one of us were ready."

"I will not make excuses." Yume admitted. "Had I a choice to go back, I would do it only to save Musubi again. I am sorry for leaving you and Karasuba but I will not yield in my decisions!"

"We know." I nodded sadly and raised my blades, finishing charging them. I could barely stand at this point from severe energy loss. "Gate:Random."

As I began executing the move, Yume blasted me with her light beam even as Tsukiumi grabbed Minato and leapt away. Ah, I forgot just how much Yume's beams hurt. In the half a second it took for me to finish Gate:Random and then activate it I had to bite my lip not to scream. The shreds of my haori and tabard were vaporized instantly and my armour began to heat up rapidly, burning me as it did. The moment I finished, I shifted into Soul Form and keeled over on my back, almost falling into the hole beside me, completely spent.

Yume, seeing that I escaped, made a face and dashed away even as the first tendrils crept out of the Rift. As I lay there, watching them run from the comparatively slow tendrils, the bridge shuddered once more and this time it began to collapse. It was a slow process, a section would fall here and another there but in the end, somehow, the god damned bridge held and only the middle part which lead out of the city collapsed into the murky depths of the river below. The collapsed section actually ended right beside me, causing me to lie on a sort of a small ledge that bravely approached nothingness.

The surviving MBI soldiers who were lucky enough to occupy the same section as I did, lived. The rest fell into the hungry waters below which swallowed everything that fell into them. Amusingly enough, as the beams fell, one of the beams speared into the concrete, passing through my middle. The reason it was funny, was because I was in Soul Form so it did absolutely nothing to me even though it looked like a mortal wound from the side. Ignoring this, I lay there, clenching my teeth, fighting the pain from the massive burn that spanned across the front of my body. I even closed my eyes to concentrate on suppressing it.

A bright light caused me to open my eyes in confusion, had Yume come back for something? I thought there was nothing left here to do, I destroyed the bridge and thus I won as I prevented them from leaving. To my surprise, it turned out to be Kazehana getting her wings as she straddled Minato. Huh, he just had several near-death experiences, lost Musubi and now just got another Sekirei? Oh never mind, Musubi was still around, I could easily tell that it was Musubi and not Yume. She must've went back to sleep and handed the controls back to Musubi. What an interesting process that was but it looks like it has consequences as Tsukiumi was currently holding Musubi up, the usually energetic girl completely still and only her eyes moved around in fascination as she looked at Kazehana's wings.

Oh well, none of this concerns me anymore, I did my part in destroying the bridge and prevented their…escape… I watched incredulously as Kazehana used her Norito – an ultimate ability we Sekirei get upon winging – to gently blow 2 Ashikabi-Sekirei pairs to the other side. Kuno desperately hanged onto her Ashikabi and Leiko's Ashikabi gently cradled his injured Sekirei to his chest, whispering soothing words to her even though I could clearly see how injured he was from my flames. Mai and her Ashikabi waved to them and then left the scene after bidding Minato and his Sekirei goodbye.

"Y-you are still alive?" I shifted my gaze to the pair I forgot about. Yukari was kneeling before me, staring at the beam 'impaling' my body to the bridge with wide eyes. Shiina stood behind her, watching me warily.

"I've had worse." I truthfully answered and grinned at the size of her eyes as they grew to truly anime style size.

"How?" She exclaimed, her eyes darting between my grinning face and the beam.

"Oh calm down," Kazehana said lazily as she and Minato approached me, Tsukiumi hanging in the back with Musubi on her shoulders. "Rei is in that other world of hers, this piece of metal did nothing to her."

"Ruining my fun are we?" I deadpanned as Yukari exhaled noisily in relief.

"Rei," Minato looked me in the eyes, determination narrowing his own eyes. He looked surprisingly manly for once, as he stared at me clutching his ribs, a thin trail of blood flowing from a wound on his forehead. "What just happened?"

"I lost." I answered nonchalantly, causing the guy to sigh in frustration. Obviously that was not the answer he was looking for.

"I mean, what happened to Musubi, who is this Yume person?" He tried again.

"Oh look, that cloud looks like a bird!" I shifted my gaze to the night sky above, the first stars just beginning to appear.

"…It's a cloudless night!" Tsukiumi exclaimed after looking skywards.

Damn it, I should think up of something else, every time I use this distraction, the sky ends up being damn cloudless.

"Tell me, who is Yume?" Minato pressed on.

"Tsk, can't you take a hint?" I rolled my eyes still staring at the sky, trying to ignore the agonizing pain. "Get lost, I am tired of the farce this incident has become."

"Minato we need to go." Kazehana glanced at the approaching MBI helicopters with worry. "MBI is almost here."

"Damn it Rei!" Minato cried out in desperation, the action causing him to wince as he clutched his ribs harder. "I need to know what is going on with Musubi!"

"She has 2 Tamas, one of which does not belong to her." I finally answered, my face stretching into a grin when he stared at me in confusion. "Now, go away you annoying human."

"Freeze!"

"Or not." I glanced past the group crowded around me to see a large party of MBI personnel approach us, guns at the ready. It was a very strong group with 7 MBI Specialists at the front in their dark red armour and a couple squads behind them, armed with LMGs ready to lay down suppressive fire. Of course, against a group containing Kazehana, Tsukiumi and Shiina they might as well walked in naked and completely unarmed for all the good they'd do.

"Surrender and I promise no harm will befall you." Takami walked to the front, a mega speaker in her hand, the MBI personnel giving way to the woman.

"Mom!?" Both Yukari and Minato exclaimed in surprise.

"Huh, I wondered what lousy, good for nothing Ashikabi were here." Takami took a second to take a pull on her cigarette. "But it turns out that it's my children."

"Laying it on a bit thick, mmm, Takami?" I laughed, wincing from the movement, attracting her attention.

"Rei?" She frowned, seeing my downed form. "Why are you just lying there?"

"I am kind of beaten up here doc." I remarked philosophically. "It's a bit difficult to do anything but lie down when you got no energy."

"Screw this crap, what the hell mom!?" Minato exploded, shuffling over to stand between his Sekirei and the MBI soldiers. "Why are you with MBI?"

"I work there." Takami raised an eyebrow at his behaviour.

"W-what!?" Minato choked and fell down, coughing as he clutched his ribs. Kazehana caught him before he hit the broken cement though.

"Look, we need to get you to a hospital so get your Sekirei to stand down already." Takami called out with worry in her voice. "I don't want to force this."

"Come on brother!" Yukari ran over to her sibling. "We need to get you to a hospital."

"Very…well." Minato raised his head feebly to look at Tsukiumi. "Let's go to…their…hospital…"

And with those words, he fell unconscious and pandemonium reigned. Minato's Sekirei, even the immobile Musubi riding Tsukiumi, crowded around him concern clear in their voices. Yukari was there with them even as Shiina continued to warily watch the situation, ready to do anything to defend his mistress, his arm still mangled with several makeshift blood soaked bandages stemming the blood flow. Takami hurried over to join the crowding and try to get her son to a helicopter for medical evacuation. The MBI soldiers moved in to secure the scene and recover what was recoverable. Quite a few grunts lost their dinner at the sight of the mangled corpses that got caught by Gate:Random or the destruction of the bridge. The few still living men were quickly retrieved and evacuated as the MBI squads continued to search.

As Takami led Minato, Yukari and their Sekirei onto the helicopter, I called out to her.

"Hey Takami! Send someone over to the other side to pick up Uzume."

Takami glanced back momentarily and nodded, pulling a small radio up to give the order.

"So…do I get a Medevac?" I slowly rolled through the beam and phased back into Living World, panting from exhaustion. The simple action drained what little energy I had recovered and now I couldn't as much as twitch anymore.

"It just arrived, Lady Rei." A duo of Specialists came to my aid and gently lifted me up, putting my arms over their broad shoulders. With a grunt, they lifted my armoured frame and made their way over to a helicopter, its blades rotating at a fast speed, clearly having just landed and ready for a take off again.

"So much destruction by unarmed women." The Specialist on my left, a Russian judging by the accent said softly, staring at the devastation around us. "Just what can men do against such power?"

"To be honest, it was me who destroyed the bridge." I admitted. "Once I realized that I could not win, I tried to stop them by removing the way they were going to flee by."

"Really?" The man stared at me in surprise.

"Yea, so you know we do in the face of such power Nikita?" The Hispanic on my right chuckled. "We ask an Arbiter to come."

We all laughed at this as we climbed into the helicopter which took off practically the moment my escort fastened me in. As we climbed higher, the lights of the city below us, I finally let the sleep take me, knowing that it was all over, for now.


	31. Gate:Winging

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>I was suspended in the comfortable darkness once more, resting as my thoughts lazily swam about. I lost. No matter what excuses I use, I lost. It doesn't matter that in a duel I am confident I'd win against any of them or that I gave as good as I got. Even before Yume awoke to completely smoke my sorry ass, I knew I lost and at that point I began trying to stop them rather than try and defeat them. The difference between those 2 words might not mean a lot to some, but it sure as hell meant a lot to me. The fact that Kara could take them all on and win wasn't helping my situation, I mean, Kara is the one I aspire to beat after all.<p>

"So how long are you going to sleep for?" Kara's displeased tone pulled at me from the depths of my slumber.

"Karasuba!" Another voice, this one the caring voice of Chiho joined in. "Rei suffered a lot of damage in that fight. Let her rest."

"You heard what Akitsu said," Kara waved aside Chiho's concerns even as I started to resurface from my dream. "Rei is completely fine, just sleeping. Wake up already!"

"You know," I opened my eyes to find myself on a hospital bed, Chiho sitting beside me and Kara leaning against the wall near the door. "I had this nice dream of you…me…and Akitsu."

I grinned as Kara's smile became one of those that most other people fled in terror from. Chiho blushed, lowered her eyes and began playing with my bed sheets. Speaking of which, I sat up and examined the small girl who sat beside me, completely healed. Well, I hope she's completely healed as I don't see a wheelchair anywhere and the hue of her skin looks far healthier than I've ever seen her. However, what surprised me is my body's reaction to her. It was definitely there and quite strong but it was nowhere near the overwhelming pull that threatened to render my bones jelly just by being near her. What happened?

"Akitsu said now that I am not dying, the flames of my soul don't draw you so strongly anymore." Chiho stated with a frown, clearly reciting from memory. "I don't get what that means though…"

Huh, that makes sense. I knew obliging Akitsu in her request to study the Spirit Realm was a good idea, I'd have never figured this out on my own. Although her observation implies that the Sekirei bond is a lot deeper than merely tying 2 bodies and minds together which might be troubling in the long run. As of now, we knew all Ashikabi who lost a Sekirei suffered mentally from it; the stronger the bond before breaking the harder the Ashikabi got hit from its breakage. According to Akitsu, out of the 7 Ashikabi who lost their Sekirei so far; 2 have committed suicide, 3 fell into a sleep from which they never woke up and only 2 recovered somewhat after falling into a deep depression.

If her hypothesis was true, then the reason I felt such a strong reaction to Chiho is because at the time, her failing body couldn't contain the flames of her soul and I, being a partially Spiritual entity, was drawn to that. I still had trouble coming to terms with Akitsu's conclusion that I was slowly turning into a spirit the longer I spent in the Spiritual Realm and the longer I spent in the Living Realm the more of a Living entity I was, what ever that meant. It seemed that my test of my limits where I spent a week as a spirit was particularly detrimental to my cause and Akitsu made me swear that the most I'll ever spend in the Spirit Realm would be 24 hours. Anyhow though, now that Chiho was healed, my reaction calmed down to that of a strong one but not particularly dangerous to me.

"How long was I out for?" I asked Kara.

"2 days, 3 nights." She answered casually. "It's the morning for the 3rd day after the Battle at the Bridge or so it's called on the Ashikabi forums."

"The what?" I stared at her incredulously, Chiho's curious look supporting mine.

"There is a forum hosted by MBI where Ashikabi can come and talk anonymously." Kara explained. "Haihane found it a while ago and occasionally sends me emails of interesting things she finds on it. Apperently there is even a video of the battle and I must say that I am quite impressed by the teamwork they showed in bringing you down. Makes me want to…meet them."

Judging by the way she said the final piece and the fact that she unconsciously slid her blade an inch out of its scabbard, I'd say that the meeting has all the chances of turning into a tragedy.

"I wouldn't mind meeting them either." Chiho's voice surprised us by the malice contained in it. "How dare they do this to my Rei."

Both Kara and I exchanged glances at this. While mine was a surprised one, I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that this sweet girl can feel hate at all, Kara's was a pleased one, she was quite happy that her Ashikabi had the same thoughts. Although I doubt Chiho would go as far as Kara, but details. What did matter though, is that seeing her become so fierce about my injuries and vengeful for my sake pulled at my heart, my pulse quickening as I felt my reaction increase.

Kara and Chiho both noticed my flushed face and the heavy breathing as I stared intently at Chiho. While Kara merely smiled, Chiho herself blushed heavily and hesitantly leaned closer to me, our faces now only inches apart.

"Do you want me Rei?" Chiho asked and then turned a deeper shade of red as she realized the innuendo behind her words. "I-I m-mean as a-an A-Ashi-"

Before she could finish stuttering I leaned forward and interrupted her with a gentle kiss, feeling ecstasy at the sudden relief my body felt at the touch of her lips. I couldn't help but compare Chiho to the 2 other women I kissed. Whereas Kara was simply passion incarnate and Akitsu's was like a cool, soothing drink after an exhausting day; Chiho's kiss reminded me of the black void I occasionally visited when in deep sleep or recuperating. The eternal emptiness where I felt completely at peace and safe, where my thoughts slowed down to a crawl and I just simply rested.

"I shall be your guide," Something from deep inside of me spoke as I broke away from Chiho who stared at me with wide eyes, my wings of pale blue fire erupting to encircle us. "Let us walk the path of eternity together, for ever."

I closed my eyes, feeling the calmness of the void sweep through my body and settle in my Tama. It was as if I now had a hole or rather a gate in my Tama that allowed me to feel Chiho through it. Emotions that were not my own began leaking through it, allowing me understand what Chiho felt right now. It happened to be mostly wonder with quite a bit of embracement with a little satisfaction on the side. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel my Ashikabi just by tracing the bond that connected my Tama to her. It was as if I could now see a star that was my Ashikabi.

It felt…nice. It was kind of the same feeling Archive gave me, just a lot more feeling and less thought. With Archive, it was mostly thoughts and images with faint emotion attached. Chiho on the other hand was diametrically opposite. I could barely hear her thoughts, it took me all of my skills learned from communicating with Archive to even hear faint whispers of her thoughts, yet I could feel her emotions as bright as the midday sun on a cloudless day. In fact, I decided against trying to hear what she was thinking as it was rapidly giving me a headache just to hear the little I could.

"So now I have a Shroud, a Sword, a Guide, Wraith and Final Mercy." Chiho mused as she watched the pale blue fire of my wings slowly fade away. "I think I am set for anything and everything."

"Shroud huh?" I whispered to myself. "Yea, that fits Uzume. Now, onto more important things."

"Wha-mmm." Chiho moaned as I pulled her closer and kissed her passionately as Kara watched with amusement. Chiho waved her arms around a bit and then suddenly embraced my back and started to kiss me back even if hesitantly.

"I see you fully recovered Rei." We broke apart to see a grinning Takami with Akitsu standing behind her, a faint smile on her lips.

"Congratulations on your wings." Akitsu said softly.

"Yes, congratulations. Now, Karasuba, next time you choose to spar with Akitsu please don't do it right outside the damn Tower." Takami turned to Kara, frustration on her face. "Why the hell did you attack her yesterday anyway?"

""Well, who else?" Kara stretched against the wall with a grin. "I felt the need to have a bit of relief and Rei was recovering, who else would I turn to? It's your fault that you forbid me from killing those pathetic weaklings outside before the Third Stage."

Takami sighed and averted her eyes from the shamelessly grinning Kara.

"Speaking of which," Kara drew attention to herself. "Now that Rei has her wings, we should go do that mission."

"Are you sure?" Takami looked up sharply. "We need you here, without the Arbiters the city will be torn apart."

"Minaka said its fine." Kara answered and then her smile dipped as she turned serious. "He said that he has something planned to occupy the Ashikabi with so do keep your eyes open."

"Did he say what?" Takami lit a cigarette with a disappointed expression. "No, of course he didn't. Very well, Akitsu and I will keep an eye out so you guys go and 'get closer'."  
>She finished the sentence with a demonic grin that seemed to have way too many sharp pointy teeth in it to be human. Chiho squeaked in fear and hid her face on my chest as I pulled her close with one hand, my other reaching for my sword. Except, because I happened to be naked under the sheets, it didn't find anything there.<p>

"Ho, I see you are quite keen on starting right now." Takami laughed and I relaxed, wondering what the hell that was just now. Even Kara watched her warily after this show and only Akitsu stood there like nothing happened, her tranquil face not moving a single muscle.

"Say Takami," I paused as red Chiho pulled away. "What happened to Musubi and Yume?"

"Tch, everyone wants the answer to that question." Takami grabbed a chair and sat down opposing my bed, Akitsu sitting on an empty bed nearby. "Minaka, my children and now you."

"I trust you said nothing to your whelps?" Kara looked at Takami, her eyes narrowed to a slit.

"Who the hell do you take me for?" Takami leaned back on the chair as she looked back in challenge. "Of course I gave them a bunch of made up bullshit."

"According to our scans," Akitsu took over, her soft, calm voice making us all listen. "Yume's Tama is slowly drifting apart from Musubi's Tama. From our estimates and calculations, we speculate that during the fight the 2 Tamas merged briefly and now Yume's is pulling back to its original position."

"Indeed." Takami pulled her tablet out of nowhere. "Tell me your side Rei, I've talked to everyone involved from Uzume to Minato and Musubi but perhaps you got something that they missed."

"Alright," I nodded and closed my eyes, recalling the scene. "I was standing several meters away, Uzume behind me. I just finished using Gate:Random in an attempt to destroy the bridge and during the event, Musubi pushed Minato out of the way of a metal beam that was falling on him. She took the beam for him and stopped moving, I believe she might've deactivated from the impact."

"So far that fits what everyone else said." Akitsu calmly said. "Musubi did in fact deactivate, the MBI sensors noticed it and Minato confirmed that her mark disappeared."

"Yes," I nodded. "However, a short while later, maybe a minute or so, a bright flash of light erupted from her and suddenly, in her place now stood Yume."

At this point I paused, a pang of pain going through my heart.

"What happened." Kara pushed herself from the wall and made her way to my bed, staring at me intently.

"We had an…argument." I looked away. "She…I just vented on her Kara. All the pain and suffering we felt from her decision."

"Not the best way to meet our captain coming back from a vacation that lasted for a couple years, mm?" Kara's tone may have been carefree but when I looked up I could see that she wasn't very happy. "What did she say?"

"She said that if she had a chance to redo, to go back," I swallowed hard. "She'd do it again without hesitation."

"Of course she would." Kara clenched her scabbard to the point that the wood started to squeak slightly. "It is Yume after all."

"What happened next?" Takami pulled on her cigarette, motioning for me to continue.

"Then I used another Gate:Random to finish destroying the bridge and Yume blasted me with her beam." I looked down at my bandaged torso with a grimace. At least I didn't feel any of the pain anymore and thanks to our regeneration, it won't leave any scars either.

"You used Gate:Random twice?" Akitsu tilted her head slightly, surprise on her face.

"Yes, it didn't go down with the first one." I nodded.

"So that's where you got your injuries from." Kara gently traced her hand down my bandaged chest. "Yes, Yume's light hurts, doesn't it?"

"It always had." I reflected truthfully.

"Right, well, this information doesn't really change anything." Takami sighed as her fingers danced on her tablet before getting up. "Well, I have things to do like prepare for you dumping this entire city on my shoulders."

"Don't worry," I grinned. "We'll be sure to take our time so you could partake in all of the pleasures our position entitled.

"Ass." Takami tossed over her shoulders as she walked out. Akitsu on the other hand walked over to me in that slow, gentle stride of hers and then kissed me sensually, not caring about Chiho who went red again or Kara's hand twitching for her blade.

"Don't make me worry again." The ice Sekirei whispered to me after breaking the kiss and then before I could muster my thoughts, completely wiped out by the sudden kiss, she was gone.

"I think it's about to time we go and get ready for our mission." Kara leaned back and grabbed a bundle that lay on the ground by the door where she stood, choosing to ignore what just happened. "Here, dress up and let's go. We got much to do."

I dressed up quickly sighing at the new armour. Of course Yume would total my armour with a single ray, she did it constantly when she was still alive and we trained too. I also felt a little disappointed despite myself when Chiho turned around with a blush and stared at a wall. I happened to be proud of my body, perhaps it wasn't quite as curvy as say Haihane, Uzume or Akitsu but I've received no complaints about it from Kara or Akitsu. I decided against doing anything about it though, judging by the interest I could read from Chiho it was more of a matter of morals rather than the fact that she didn't like me. I could actually feel a little red creep into my cheeks as I focused on her emotions and just how 'much' she liked what she saw before turning around. Kara smiled knowingly at this, her eyes roaming about my body shamelessly as I dressed.

"Not going to put on that mask of yours?" She asked when I stood up, ready. Chiho turned around at this and I could feel a bit of wonder at my mask less face.

"There is no point to anymore." I smiled happily, although I liked the mask it got in the way so much that it wasn't even funny. "I used it to prevent a random winging. Now that I have my True Ashikabi, there is no need for a mask."

Chiho smiled at this even as Kara nodded in acceptance, my answer making perfect sense for her. Now that I think of it, she never did ask why I wore my mask; she merely acknowledged it and carried on. I looked at my mask which served me faithfully for these years, lying on the bed behind me, and nodded in finality. I would have no need of it anymore, for ever and ever.


	32. Gate:Preparation

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Warning: My muse has something I like to call the Delirium Generator (Ru: Бредогенератор) and she occasionally brings it out. Why, this small arc carried on further then I expected and some of the things my muse presented to me made me go 'WTF!? Really!?'. Still, I have no choice but trust that she knows what she's doing, I am merely here to write everything she comes up with.

Note: Anyone else saw how the roads around Washington make it look like Amestris from Full Metal Alchemist? Coincidence or Illuminati shenanigans? I actually had to keep my muse back and ask her to focus on current story as she suddenly had this great idea for a FMA and Real World crossover...it would make sense why most major cities are a circle.

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><p>"…You must be joking." I summed up our reaction when Elizabeth told us where we were going and what our mission was. We were currently on a 12 hour flight to Washington, USA and Elizabeth was coming with us. She stated that due to mission importance, we wouldn't be told what it is or where we were going until we actually boarded the MBI plane. We were a bit surprised to have Elizabeth herself come with us but considering the mission I guess it makes sense.<p>

I've never actually wondered why the world was content with letting Minaka do whatever the hell he wanted. I kind of figured that after the disasters that the 1st and 2nd Kamikura Invasions humanity just sucked it up and ignored us. That was rather dumb of me; I should've figured that humans in power don't particularly care about those who die under their command. I mean, I've seen it so many times where governments just send 1 Black Ops squad after another in a vain attempt to chip at MBI.

Anyhow, according to Elizabeth there were a bunch of shady deals in play that she refused to share with us that balanced the whole system in a precarious balance where they don't really attack us and in return we don't come over and destroy them. Apparently, we were en route to remind the president of USA that double crossing us on the deals wasn't in his best interest. When Haihane asked just what did he do, Elizabeth caught our attention by stating that USA Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, was one of the organisers of Second Kamikura Invasion. They covered their traces well and it was only through much digging and great loss of both agents and resources that MBI ID uncovered their involvement. According to Minaka, this sealed their fate.

So, we were on our way to raze the CIA Headquarters to the ground.

"Doesn't Minaka realize that after this USA will have to declare war on us?" I facepalmed at the idea. "I mean, he can't expect them to just do nothing after we destroy their Headquarters."

"This is where the system I mentioned earlier comes into play." Elizabeth smiled. "USA will be forced to suck it up and find a scapegoat for this ordeal, probably some more of these never-ending 'terrorists' they keep finding. Otherwise the other countries will be forced to step in on our side and suddenly, USA will find itself in World War 3."

"…Minaka is going hardball on this huh." I scratched my cheek, realizing what this meant. Beni and Haihane looked confused while Kara pouted. Of course she'd be sad at the prospect of World War 3 not going off. Chiho on the other hand looked horrified with the scenario.

"But, do we have to do this?" Chiho asked hesitantly. "Can't we just warn them or something?"

"Chiho." I sighed. "These guys sent more than a thousand men and a fleet on a suicide mission for a small chance that they might recover something useful. Thanks to them, not only did about 2 thousand people died, but they also tortured 2 Sekirei nearly to death and thanks to them Yume, the captain of the Disciplinary Squad at the time, died."

"Yume?" Chiho frowned. "The same one that almost killed you several days ago?"

"Well, she didn't quite do that much damage," I averted my eyes under Chiho's accusing glare. "But yes."

"You are focusing on the wrong thing here, Chiho." Elizabeth chided the small girl gently. "The important thing is that according to MBI ID the CIA had run up to 100 Black Ops operations and traitor recruitment over the past 7 years. They are directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people and if we don't stop them, they'd kill a hundred times that."

"You are the Ashikabi of the Disciplinary Squad." Kara added with a thin smile on her face. "We destroy any and all threats to our kind. The CIA has attacked us and they will all die for this, there is no alternative in this world."

"Yea…" Beni sighed sadly. "That's just how this world works, Lady Ashikabi. If we don't stop them, then who will? No one but us, that is pretty much the credo of this squad."

"Don't worry, baby," Uzume leaned over from her seat and hugged Chiho. "We'll take care of the bad guys."

"R-right." Chiho blushed as Uzume's hands began to wander. "N-not here Uzume!"

"Why, we are all your Sekirei here." Uzume smiled widely, a faint blush of her own coming on. "And it's a very long flight."

"Eager to get yourself banned off of MBI planes too, Uzume?" Elizabeth smiled dangerously.

"Right, stopping." Uzume retreated, the fight obviously won by Elizabeth whose smile turned victorious.

"You just had to ruin it Elizabeth." Haihane sighed disappointedly, putting a small camera away.

"What?" She asked when we all stared at her. "I might as well film the pornography going on, instead of downloading it from the internet. It makes total sense, right?"

Four blank looks and 2 flustered ones were the response to her outrageous statement. After glancing about we all decided to ignore the random event and carry on even as Haihane schooled her features to resemble perfect innocence.

"So we walk in, destroy everything and then leave?" Beni decided to get the conversation back on track.

"No." Elizabeth reached for the large bag that rested below her feet and dragged it closer to herself. "Although the absolute minimum of this mission is for us to destroy CIA Headquarters and kill as many agents of their as we can, it is by far the least of our concerns."

"Oh?" Kara leaned in slightly, eager to hear more. "Do tell."

"Your mission is to get me into the CIA Archives and destroy any and all opposition." Elizabeth stated as she pulled out a Specialist uniform from the bag. Gods damn it, I just knew that Elizabeth was abnormal. "I will search through the Archives to find any information available of their accomplishments and accomplices concerning Sekirei and then we are to destroy the facility. Of course, depending on just what I find, the mission will change accordingly."

"What do you mean?" Chiho asked, her brow narrowed.

"Minaka had insisted that if I were to find the location of their research labs where they study whatever they got from us that we destroy them." Elizabeth answered as she stood up and began putting on the Specialist uniform. Apparently, it was heavily modified and now resembled power armour than anything else.

"…Is that power armour?" Haihane actually stood up and approached Elizabeth, staring at the armour she was putting on piece by piece.

"Yes, it is a heavily modified version of Rei's armour," Was the response. "Except that this one could be worn by humans without monstrous strength."

"Eh?" I tilted my head, confused. "What do you mean monstrous?"

"Rei, I am sorry to tell you," Kara smirked. "But humans, unlike us, happen to be quite weak and finding someone who can run around and jump in solid plate armour that weighs a good third of their total weight is difficult."

"Indeed." Elizabeth nodded as she finished fitting the chest piece and the whole thing came to life, lines suddenly began to glow and the suit began to tighten itself, fitting to be exactly its host's form. "This little beauty is a prototype Takami asked me to test out in the field once she knew where we were going."

"But why are you putting it on now?" Beni asked with a frown. "Are we going to be fighting right as we get off?"

"Pretty much." Elizabeth nodded as she put on a solid helmet and the visor began to glow a soft teal. "We know the CIA. Underestimating them would lead to the failure of this mission. The ID expects that if we are to land normally, then within 15 minutes the nearest army divisions will be scrambled and set against us. So, we are going to parachute down straight onto the Headquarters after hitting it with an EMP to counter any anti-air defences they have."

"Okay, so we got a way in." I nodded. "How about a way out? We might be able to get in and do the mission but I doubt that those army divisions you mentioned will be so keen on lettings us out."

"We storm through whatever resistance we meet and then, once we break free, we will be picked up by an MBI stealth drop ship." A silence met her words. "Any questions?"

"Yea, just one." I asked in a deadpan. "Since when has this become Sci-fi?"

"Since about 20 years ago when Minaka found your ship." Elizabeth answered nonchalantly.

"Irrelevant." Kara turned to Chiho. "Chiho. As our Ashikabi, you are going to command us in battle and destroy our enemies using us. Remember, that you also need to assign protection for both yourself and the VIP who happens to be Elizabeth."

"E-eh?" Our poor Ashikabi suddenly looked very lost.

"However, because this is your first time," Kara rolled her eyes. "I'll guide you through it. Pay attention and listen very carefully because in the future, you will be commanding us and any mistake will result in either failure or death. Do you understand?"

Chiho nodded, intent on committing everything Kara said to memory, it was clear that she didn't want to fail us. We all smiled at this even as Kara turned to face us all with Chiho.

"This is your current team composition, what you will be working with." Kara gestured at us. "We have Benitsubasa who is our Siege unit. If you need a blast door opened, a fortification destroyed or anything like that, she is the one you will command to do it."

Seeing that her charge was nodding while paying utmost attention, Kara continued on.

"Next we have Haihane." At this Haihane waved cheerfully. "Although she can be used effectively against both soldiers and vehicles, in our squad she takes on the role of destroying enemy armour. So tanks, armoured personnel carriers and the likes."

"Then there is Uzume." Kara sighed at number 10 who looked apprehensive. "So far, due to lack of training, she is to be used as Support and defence. That means that if you got someone who needs protections, like yourself or the VIP, she is the one you assign to keep them safe. Good so far?"

"Yes." Chiho nodded, her eyes surveying us.

"My lieutenant, Rei," Kara gestured at me as I nodded in acceptance. "Can be assigned 3 roles, any of which she will do excellently. She can be the vanguard, the one who charges in first and scouts via combat. She can be a protector, again defending you or VIPs. And finally she can be an assassin, if you want to kill your target fast and relatively easily."

"Finally, there is me." Kara's grin widened. "I am particularly good against infantry although I can destroy anything that meets my sword. I can also protect although not as well as Uzume or Rei."

"So, Benitsubasa to destroy fortifications, Haihane is good against armour, Uzume is a protector, Rei is advance guard and you are anti-infantry?" Chiho summed it up, thought evident on her face. "So, in this we'd have Benitsubasa destroy any defences that they have and then she and Haihane will secure the area while the rest of us go in?"

"It's good to see you do the homework I assigned you." Kara smiled truly at Chiho while the rest of us stared, unable to figure out how Chiho knows enough to formulate a strategy even as basic as this one. "Not bad, although in this case Haihane could easily be replaced with me. But yes, 2 should secure the area and pick off any escapees while 2 more proceed to clean the complex while the final Sekirei should go with Elizabeth to those Archives. Now, who is who in this case?"

"Umm…" Chiho looked at us, concentrating. "Benitsubasa and Haihane outside, just in case they bring vehicles. Karasuba will attack whoever is in the building while Uzume and I follow her. It would be best for Rei to go with Elizabeth so that she can open the defences from inside and save us time."

"Any concerns or questions?" Kara's pleased grin threatened to cut her face in 2 as she looked at us.

"Well done Chiho." Elizabeth nodded in acknowledgement. "I see you will become a great Ashikabi and Leader of the Disciplinary Squad."

"Hey Kara, if you had her learn tactics and you just did this speech about or general roles…" I scratched the back of my head in thought. "Did you tell Chiho about our abilities? Like my gates, Beni's shockwaves, Haihane's air abilities…"

Kara opened her mouth, then frowned, then closed her mouth and looked away. I dipped my head as I pinched the bridge of nose. That would be a no then.

"Eh? I haven't heard of this." Chiho looked at us in confusion. "What gates? Haihane can do elemental abilities? I thought your ability was ghost form Rei…"

"Mmm…perhaps it would be best if we all did a small introduction then?" I sighed. "Something we really should've done weeks ago but hey, it's not quite too late yet…"

"I'll start then." Haihane nodded in acceptance. "My ability is air-based self enhancement. Making my body lighter, making my claws sharper by wrapping them with air, a shield of sorts. Those kinds of things."

"That's so cool!" Chiho looked at Haihane. "Can you fly?"  
>"N-…" Haihane paused and thought hard. "Maybe."<p>

Now we all looked at her with great intent. Having a flier on our team would be an incredible boon.

"Once we get back," Kara looked at her apprentice with a sadistic smile from which Haihane paled to be the color of her gray hair. "You are going to learn how to fly."

"Yes, teacher." Haihane sighed sadly in defeat, knowing better then to argue with Kara.

"Beni, you're up." I nodded at my apprentice.

"Right, I make shockwaves." Beni stood up and slammed her fists together unleashing a small red blast wave that traveled only about 10 centimetres before dissipating. "Using said shockwaves I can channel my power to do a variety of things, from amplifying the destructive capacity of the shockwave a hundred fold to warping it as a shield around myself. My shockwaves have very little range in air but can go up to 50 meters through the ground if I focus hard enough. I can also stack my shockwaves giving my abilities new properties but in order to do so I'll have to make a new shockwave per property."

"How far does your amplification go up to?" Chiho asked with wonder in her eyes.

"Theoretically, to infinity." Beni then coughed and continued. "But the concentration required to keep the shockwave without unleashing it goes up geometrically. So the most I can do is 4 shockwaves which is still enough to level a skyscraper."

"Ah, good times." I smiled at the memory. We both had a very bad day that time and instead of going up 50 or so floors we just leveled the entire building and left. Fastest mission ever.

"W-wait…" Uzume looked up from hugging Chiho to stare at Beni. "You destroyed a skyscraper!?"

"What?" Beni looked at her with a haughty aura. "The Director gave me the title Siege Sekirei for a reason."

"In-sane…" Uzume whispered loudly, her eyes wide.

"Speaking of which, we might as well have you go Uzume." Kara looked at the scantily clad Sekirei in amusement. "For the sake of Benitsubasa and Haihane really."

"Right." Uzume shook herself a bit to pull herself together. "I can materialize my power as strands of silk, any amount I wish but it takes time and I can only control 6 at any given instant. So I generally put them into groups or ribbons and control them like that. A single strand is enough to withstand a low caliber bullet and if I layer them then even Sekirei abilities cannot get all the way through."

"Unless you get overpowered." I grinned, glancing at Kara who sported the same grin.

"Monsters don't count." Uzume pouted at us. "You guys are crazy strong."

"Uzume!" Chiho cried out even as we snickered. "Apologize, Kara and Rei aren't monsters! They are family."

"Umm, right." Uzume looked down, properly chastened even as we stopped laughing our thoughts turning somber. Family… "Sorry guys, you're not real monsters. Just monstrously strong!"

And just like that the mood once again lightened up as we all laughed this time even Elizabeth who was watching us from her corner joined in.

"Rei, so what's your power?" Chiho looked at me with great curiosity. "I saw you turn into a ghost, is that your power?"

"It's not really a ghost and no that's not really my power." I mused. "My power is to open Gates between the Spirit Realm and the Living Realm. By default, the 2 realms are completely separate and what is in one cannot be touched by another. However, because I am originally a Living being, when I go into the Spirit Realm via my gates I am still alive, just with a layer of Spirit Realm overlaid. So you can see me, you can hear me but you cannot touch me."

"That's…confusing." Chiho frowned in a cute manner, making Uzume hug the living daylights of her. "U-Uzume! Air!"

"What you need to know about my abilities for now," I told the girl who greedily gulped air. "Is that I can turn intangible at will and I can take others with me. My main source of attack is actually taking whatever my sword slices into the Spirit Realm. Due to the nature of Gate:Open, as that ability is called, it cannot be blocked or parried in anyway, only dodged."

"This makes Rei the ultimate assassin." Elizabeth called out from her corner. "There is no armour, no shields, nothing that can protect you against her."

"Well, there is one thing…" I looked at Kara who smirked. "Sheer skill can counter me very well."

"Yes, because opponents of Teacher's level are common." Haihane deadpanned.

"Right," Chiho finished thinking and looked at Kara. "So, what is your power? I only know that you are very strong but I don't know why or what makes you so strong."

"I am very much like Haihane in power type." Kara admitted freely. "I am a self-enhancement type but unlike Haihane I don't have an elemental affinity to go with it. It is pure self-enhancement."

"So what Kara means is that she can use her power to amplify any of her body's characteristics like speed, reflexes, strength and so on." I explained it further to our quiet Ashikabi. "As far as I know she can also unleash her power in a very short distance around her body or through her blade or clothes. Anything else you want to add?"

"Nope, I think that should do for now." Kara stated simply. "Still, the original plan stands."

"So it does." I nodded in acceptance. "Although instead of having me unlock the doors and what not, why not just walk through them with Elizabeth?"

"Yes…" Chiho turned to me. "That sounds even better."

"So the plan is set, introductions are over?" Elizabeth glanced between us all as we replied in affirmative. "Good, now, let's put the parachutes on you and run you through the works…"


	33. Gate:Drop

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>The drop itself wasn't bad honestly. Everything went according the plan: we detonated the EMP and then jumped out of the plane after Elizabeth. Just in case, we had Uzume strap herself to Chiho's back so that she could keep her safe. Elizabeth's explanation of the theory behind parachutes was enough for Uzume to create her own variant if the original failed.<p>

Elizabeth's comment that the thing only very rarely fails was enough for us to tie the very willing Veil Sekirei to our embarrassed Ashikabi. As things stood, if our parachutes didn't open we all had a good chance of survival, Elizabeth excluded. Haihane could use her wind enhancements to slow herself down, Beni had a decent chance of survival using her Shock Shields and Kara will use that aura of hers to avoid becoming a red stain several dozen meters in diameter. Of course, they'd all need medical attention afterwards but I was certain they'd live.

I had my Gates of course. The Spirit Realm had one curious property I noted. The ground had resistance and the deeper I go the more resistance grows until I can't phase deeper anymore. It was one of the many experiments Akitsu put me through when we experimented with the Spirit Realm. Gods, that was one terrifying leap of faith off the MBI Tower…

That particular property isn't really useful except for situations like this. Unless there is somewhere else it can be used and I just don't know it yet. Regardless, the gradual resistance would stop me gently but getting back out would be a bitch…

The reason I was angry with the drop was that in the end, it was all a bunch of pointless precautions that only stressed our Ashikabi for no reason. Granted, we weren't shot out of the sky as we glided down, the terror our Ashikabi feeling leaking through the bond, but the moment we landed an entire army of Armoured Personnel Carriers, tanks, helicopters and infantry showed up out of nowhere. After surrounding us they tried to call for our surrender but we simply charged them, not even bothering to listen.

Leaving Uzume to defend Chiho and Elizabeth, we all charged the surrounding forces in random directions, not bothering to partner up. Even as Beni sprinted heavily with an angry red cocoon of Shock Charge building up, Haihane already leapt off the roof we landed on and hit a tank, her wind enhanced claws shredding the tank's turret right off. Similar story with me and Kara, much like my disciple, I was fairly slow. It didn't matter to me though as I charged my foe in Spirit Form, their attempts to stop me growing more desperate with each bullet and shell that went right through my intangible form. However, before I even reached my foes, Kara was already thick in their ranks, body parts, blood and death wails surrounding her in a hellish parody of a hurricane.

The moment I was in range I shifted into the Living Realm and spun on the spot, unleashing a Gate:Nova to add a little bit of chaos. The nearest soldiers who stood maybe 3 or so meters away didn't even have a chance to scream before blue flame washed over them leaving only white hot metal and bones behind in places they got hit. It was rather freaky to see a soldier with his chest turned into a charred skeleton while the rest of him was completely fine. Or that officer over there whose head was now a blackened skull grinning from the top of his completely normal body.

However, it rapidly lost in power as distance and diameter increased. Even though it killed everything in a 10 meter diameter around me, by the 11th meter it was only lighting the soldiers on fire and burning them horribly rather than searing their flesh right off their bones. The nearby tank also suffered, the closeby armour glowing a bright white that slowly transitioned to yellow and red as the distance grew. A second later, the fuel inside exploded and set off the ammo rack inside, turning the tank into a giant shrapnel grenade that turned nearby men into finely minced meat. I even had to phase into the Spirit Realm to evade that.

Having accomplished the distraction, a lot less bullets and shells were going my way now, the attackers that still lived backed away in fear. I dashed forward to another tank, once more in the Living Realm, and hacked off its cannon before slashing at the turret, my Gate:Open destroying the turning mechanism inside.

Unlike Haihane who could extend her range via wind claws and shred the tank whole, I had no real way of destroying big armoured targets quickly without using abilities like Gate:Random or Gate:Nova. So instead I disabled them, my Gate:Open ignoring the armour and destroying the mechanisms behind it. This tank for instance now cannot shoot nor turn its turret to face its heavy machine gun at me. After slicing off the tracks, it was now an effective monument as it could literally do nothing else.

Truthfully, it took longer to describe what happened. In reality it was literally 3 quick slashes – about a second of time – and I'd move onto the next target, the disabled tank forgotten. I was only fighting for maybe 5 or so seconds when the ground shook violently and a gigantic dust cloud, much like the fabled mushroom of a nuclear strike, rose into the sky to the east. It would seem that Beni reached her targets, I thought as I took the advantage and finished off several soldiers who were swept off their feet by the disturbance. I doubt anything survived the Zero Ground of her Shock Charge converted into a Pulverize.

The men around me wavered and broke, fleeing in terror from 'monster' and 'demon'. It would seem that these men were sent in without being told what they'd face. We Sekirei have a tendency of being very hard on the morale of our enemies. Very few unprepared men could watch us tear their brothers in arms to pieces and stand their ground, shooting at us in a faint hope that a bullet would pierce out defences. Of all the missions I've ever been on, only prepared Black Operatives stood their ground to the last man, fighting to the bitter end.

It must be hard, I thought as I slashed an APC, rending the cabin into 2, to fight against someone that you can do absolutely nothing to and that your best attempts don't even make them pause. Oh wait, I do this every morning against Kara. Beni, Haihane and Uzume do this regularly as well in their sessions against us. So I can safely assume that the lot running in panic before me were all cowards.

I brought up my sword sharply, the blade blocking a bullet from my right. Turning, I saw an officer, a lieutenant judging by the bloody clothing, his right hand struggling to put me in the pistol's sights even as his blood gushed out of his left shoulder, his arm cloven off. I walked over to the man slowly, taking my time to examine what was once a handsome young Hispanic face, now twisted in pain and agony.

Before I reached him I had to block 2 more bullets from his shaky pistol, both aimed at my face. Seems like this man realized that shooting at my armour was pointless. Smart, but I guess that's the reason why he's an officer in the first place. Just as I raised my blade, staring into his defiant eyes, preparing to end his agony I had to quickly phase into the Spirit Realm.

The ground around us erupted in rent earth and bloody tatters of what used to be my enemy. I ignored the helicopters unleashing hell at me in favour of watching as the officer's soul orb rose up from where he used to be, it's flame far brighter than anything I've seen before. I watched as the flame contorted and tried to shape itself into the image of the man but after a second, it flickered back into a normal flame, it's light exactly the same as the rest.

That was interesting, it was if the soul tried to become an apparition or a spectre but failed. Makes me wonder what would happen if I were to experiment with this; could I perhaps make a wraith out of someone?

Before I could think on this further, I was distracted by a white lance that flew across the cloudy sky and speared on the helicopters unloading all it had at me. The helicopter's blades spluttered smoke and died, the chopper going down hard as the spear destroyed something important inside.

Turning to the direction where the spear came from I felt my jaw drop from surprise. Uzume stood on the roof, her veils forming another massive spear-like arrow as she drew an equally gigantic white bow about twice her size created out of her veils. As the helicopters stopped firing at me and began to turn to face the new threat, I saw Uzume release her projectile and, with a loud clap, it flashed across the sky to pierce through the bulletproof windshield and disappear in the depths of the helicopter. I could see the pilot slump, letting go of the controls as the helicopter began to spin to its doom, a giant hole where his chest used to be. What the hell, since when can Uzume shoot spears that break sound barriers? Scratch that, since when can Uzume craft a bow out of her veils?

Before the helicopters could finish turning and take aim at their assailant, Uzume shot 2 more spears: one downing its target by killing the pilot while another hit something inside the chopper it struck and turned it into a magnificent fireball. The last helicopter abandoned mission and tried to pull out sharply only to receive a spear through its tail rotor and smash into the building hard. By that point I, having ensured no living targets remained in my zone, reached Uzume and shifted into Living Realm still staring at the white archer incredulously. The woman in question grinned at my expression and turned to other areas taken by the rest of the team.

Unlike me though, the rest of the Disciplinary Squad all had ways of dealing low – relatively speaking – flying targets. Whereas I ignored the air assault by going intangible, resulting in a frustrated draw, my team actually took down their share of assault helicopters.

Beni was particularly efficient at this and was actually our designated anti-air. Beni would rip out a chunk of concrete, cement, rocks or just ground in general and then smash it towards her target with a stacked Shockwave. The result was a cloud of debris that flew at several times the speed of sound at its target in a shotgun like manner. After being hit by something like that, most of the attacking choppers turned into shredded metal and exploded in mid-air.

Beni was also our only way of dealing with jets and low flying fighter-bombers. Due to the amount of projectiles she puts into the air, more often than not the jet in question is forced to disengage and flee or get shredded.

Compared to Beni's massive shotgun-like ability of doom, Kara's and Haihane's ways of dealing with their air targets was quite tame. Haihane would use her wind enhancement to lighten herself, jump high into the air and then glide towards her target, her claws acting like a parody of wings. Once she reaches the helicopter in question, one swing is generally enough to rip the chopper apart in mid-air. She avoided destroying them in an explosive manner though as the shockwave would generally knock her out of the air prematurely. Due to her wind enhancements, she had enough agility in the air to dodge most return fire and whatever hit her would only knock her away as the wind shield would protect her from full damage.

For the longest time, Kara didn't have any ranged attacks and would be forced to hang out with me in Spirit Realm as we got away. Eventually though, her frustration with this escalated to such degree that she sat down and created a new ability to use with her sword. It was a fairly crude and inefficient thing but it got the job done more often than not.

Kara claimed inspiration from number 01 was what resulted in this ability. Of course, she wasn't quite happy by this. Regardless, Kara would channel her power through the sword and swing with such force that the strike would carry through the air and hit her target.

Kara's Distant Blade technique was nowhere close to Miya's abilities or so Kara told me bitterly. Apparently, during the First Kamikura Invasion, Miya sliced battleships apart several kilometers from the beach with only one stroke each. Kara's ability could only reliably slice her target up to 50 meters away, forcing her often to jump high and then execute Distant Blade to take down the assaulting helicopters.

In fact, Uzume had to help her finish the last 2 choppers who figured out that she had a range limit from watching her destroy the other 6 and flew above it. Sadly for them, Uzume's arrows had far superior range then Kara's ability and took them down with ease.

By this time, Haihane and Beni finished with their targets. Although Beni finished first by far, by the time she climbed up the building to join us, Haihane glided over and landed gracefully before Chiho. Beni and I stood waiting for Kara as we ignored Haihane and Chiho debate whether or not Haihane's glide counts as flying in favour at staring at Uzume's great bow. The white, 3 meter tall thing that stood nearly twice the size of its wielder was strangely familiar. In fact, now that I look closer, it looks practically like one of Uzume's lances just slightly bent by a taut silk thread that connected the 2 ends.

"Explain." Kara ordered in good spirits from the fight.

"Well, you designated me as support right?" Uzume shrugged. "And then you told me to develop something against air because my threads had practically no range. At first I though to just throw my spears but then I remembered that Ashikabi on the bridge who supported his Sekirei with a bow. So, there you have it."

"Are you really using one of your lances to shoot other, smaller spears?" I asked incredulously.

"I see no problem." Uzume shrugged.

"And neither do I. Uzume is now useful as she can do more then babysit duty." Ignoring Uzume's fake cry of outrage, Kara turned to Chiho and Haihane who walked over, their debate done. "Are you alright, Chiho?"

"Yes." Chiho nodded firmly, her expression growing steely. "We should keep going. The quicker we do this the faster we'll leave, right?"

"Indeed." Elizabeth walked up silently, finished surveying the battleground. "Your orders?"

"Haihane and Benitsubasa are on patrol duty. We are going to jump down and walk in through the front door." Kara caressed her blade lovingly.

"Of course." I sighed and drew my blades once more.


	34. Gate:Archive

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"This wasn't the best idea!" I called to Kara as my blades knocked bullets out of the air, protecting Elizabeth who was firing at the CIA Operatives around us with a rifle that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie.<p>

"It's fine!" Kara called out as she dashed all over the place, slaying one man after another, their Kevlar armour doing absolutely nothing against her blade. "We always go through the front door!"

"Watch out!" Uzume grabbed Chiho who cowered behind her and jumped away, a rocket whistling by to smash into the wall several meters further, smashing it into rubble and shaking the whole building. "What the hell!?"

"Hi, this is Haihane," Haihane's voice, overlaid with whistling of the wind and explosions called out of my armour. "They got jets here, dodging them is getting rather annoying."

Just as her call ended, a gigantic tremor shook the whole complex, unbalancing pretty much all operatives who had to stop firing at us to remain aright. Looks like Beni just smashed something to bits out there. I dashed over taking advantage of the lull in gunfire, leaving Elizabeth as she dashed for cover behind a pillar. As I slashed at the nearest operative who only had time to look at me with fearful eyes, Haihane came up again.

"Okay, never mind, Beni took care of the air." She remarked casually, her voice much clearer this time. "Apparently they can't dodge house sized boulders turned into shrapnel thrown at them."

"Oi! It wasn't a house," Beni's voice came much quieter through Haihane's radio. "I just shattered a couple boulders. Anyway, outside looks secure for now, how's it going inside?"

"Still clearing the main hall." I replied, ignoring a man's death scream as he almost managed to dodge my blow, much to his misfortune. These men were pretty good but still too slow to actually dodge my swings. The most I saw was almost dodging like this guy here and instead of being cloven in 2 I merely slice open their chests or stomachs and leave them to die in agony. I was also surprised by the amount of female operatives, they were few of course, but much more than I usually encountered on my missions.

"Clear." Kara called over from her side as she walked leisurely in open, a gigantic pool of blood slowly spreading behind her. "You're still cleaning up? Must be getting rusty Rei."

"I am done." I replied as I wrenched my sword out of the chest of a young woman who looked like she was one of the intelligence agents, not even armoured just carrying a pistol. The woman coughed and took a last breath, her heart twitched a bit, clear in the open now and then stopped. "How's Chiho?"

"Terrible." Uzume replied, her hand tracing circles on the heaving girl. I closed my eyes and sighed. Of course, we've all faced this before. Thankfully, this won't be like with Beni or Haihane where we also had to help them deal with them doing the killing, but it won't be easy nonetheless. I could feel the distress through my bond, causing my heart to clench painfully. Kara also had a grimace pass through her face as she absentmindedly raised her empty hand to her chest and rubbed it.

"Fuck, this is stupid." I swore softly as I and Kara walked over to the pair. Elizabeth was behind us talking to herself softly as she created a holographic map of the place before her. "We should have foreseen this, hell; I had to deal with the exact same thing with Beni."

"It was a long time ago." Kara agreed with me, a slight grimace still on her face, her hand still on her chest. "But we don't have time for this."

"Chiho." I knelt before the shivering girl who stared at me with big eyes. "We must press on, the mission must be done otherwise Haihane and Beni will be in danger."

She nodded, still shaking, and tried to get up but her legs just wouldn't hold her. I was rather surprised by how much strength of will she showed. I've seen plenty of men and women who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time just turn into mindless beasts, driven by nothing but instincts when in battle as devastating as this one.

"Just…stay here." I put my hands on her shoulders and lowered myself to have our faces at same level, eyes to eyes. "Uzume will protect you; Kara will be wandering about too. You can feel us, can't you?"

When she nodded a yes, still unable to speak I smiled.

"Just concentrate on this feeling and you will be able to tell where we are and our emotions." I watched her nod and concentrate, her shaking slowly stopping. Seeing her white face slowly begin regaining some color, I lowered myself closer and whispered. "Focus on me."

That feeling of the comfortable darkness in my Tama slowly began to spread and I understood that she was beginning to feel me. Good, now, let's see if this will snap her out of the unnecessary drama. Chiho opened her eyes and I could feel her confused feelings through the bond before a feeling of peace and love I channeled into her through our kiss began to settle in. I also tried to channel the feeling of the safe, comforting darkness but it wouldn't leave my Tama so I abandoned the notion.

"Now, why don't you give a good luck kiss to Kara and Uzume too?" I broke off and stood up, Chiho's confusion and reluctance to end the kiss clearly coming through the bond. "We are going."

"Good luck." Chiho finally whispered, her mental stability somewhat returning even if her emotional one was far from steady. I began to feel the guilt begin to eroding at it once more but Kara scooped up the girl who squeaked from surprise and passionately kissed all sense out of her.

"Now, that is a kiss." Uzume gave thumbs up in approval. I watched for a second, feeling as Chiho emotions ran rampant again, the passion of Kara's kiss devouring any self-deprecating thoughts she had. Well, looks like they'll handle it from here, time for me and Elizabeth to do our parts. The less we stay here, the better.

"Where to?" I asked as I walked over to Elizabeth who still had that 3D map before her.

"Straight down about 10 floors." She said offhandedly as she touched the hologram to scroll down. "Then we go through a corridor filled with security and traps for about a kilometer and then we should be in their Archives."

"That's rather far from here." I whistled softly as I looked at the long corridor that separated the Archive and the main facility. Strangely enough, the map seemed to keep on going deeper. "Hey, what's lower?"

"I don't know…" Elizabeth scrolled further and we looked with surprise at a metro station. "Huh…interesting, this must connect to other CIA facilities."

"How come you didn't know this prior?" I looked at her questioningly, Elizabeth didn't seem like the person to not study her information prior to using it.

"I just pulled this from the local data frame." She stared at the metro for a second and then canceled the thing. "Right, we should get going."

"Shouldn't we tell them to go to the metro station?" I asked. "So that once we finish with Archives we can immediately get going to their other facilities."

"I fear they might collapse the tunnels." Elizabeth stated as she pulled up the map again and poked at the junction slightly beyond the metro station at which the map ended. "That and if there is no lab in connection then we'd just lose time."

"I still say we do it." I argued even as we turned to face trio. "With Beni with us, it doesn't matter if they collapse it or not, she'll clear a path. As for the facility not being connected, I somehow think that the lab would be closer to the facility we chose rather than close to here."

"I see your point." Elizabeth nodded and we turned our eyes to the sight before us. "Uzume…again?"

"Hehe," The brown haired Sekirei in question laughed in embarrassment. "Just taking her mind off this."

"I can clearly see that her mind is anywhere but present." I replied dryly as I looked at bright red Chiho, arousal coming strong through the bond, as she stared at Uzume with misty eyes. "What did you do?"

"Erm…" Uzume scratched the back of her head, the nervous smile still on her face. "I'd rather not say here…"

"Right." Elizabeth drawled and rolled her eyes before pulling out a radio. "Rei and I are going in, approximately 15 floors down there is a metro station that is used the CIA to move between their facilities. Rei has convinced me that we should meet you all there as that will speed things up. So, while we are going for the Archive, you should smash your way down. Good luck."

"Roger that." Haihane replied.

"Oh good, just let me finish cleaning up here…" Kara's voice came in with a bunch of screams that were quickly cut off.

"On my way." Beni replied shortly, her voice bored. She must not have much to do out there once the vehicles ended for the defenders.

I think I mentioned it before but I love how I can go through things while in Spirit Realm. Elizabeth and I dashed through their gates and barricades without pause as we traveled downward. Elizabeth couldn't help but snicker at the faces of the defenders as we ran through them. We could occasionally hear a tremor as we descended. No doubt that was Beni, knocking their thick steel doors right off with the hinges.

Soon, even those tremors faced off as we were now nearly 40 meters below ground. Finally, we stopped at the Archive floor and walked through the final titanic vault door to appear in a brightly lit room that reminded me a bit of mage libraries from some of the anime Haihane showed us. Neither of us could suppress an exclamation of wonder at the scene.

The entrance led to a balcony overseeing the top of a gigantic hollow cavern and when I leaned over the edge I could see that it was roughly 6 to 7 meters high. The whole cavern was covered by rows upon rows of metal cabinets, ladders attached to them by wheels, allowing easy access.

"We might be here for a while Elizabeth." I whistled the sound echoing through the room. "Did these guys really do so many operations?"

"Not necessarily." Elizabeth answered as we descended down a spiraling staircase to the base of this cavern. "The Archives contain classified information of all sorts. Not just mission intel and reports but agent data, blackmail material, any shady deals done by the USA and all sorts of spy information. God I hope it's ordered somehow."

"What do you need?" An old man with sharp blue eyes met us at the base of the stairs. This must be the archivist.

"We are looking for the research facilities where anything related to Sekirei is studied." Elizabeth replied calmly as if the person before us wasn't an enemy.

"You'd have to be more specific." The man cupped his chin in thought. "I have received classified research data from over a dozen facilities that study the Sekirei. I have got a steady stream of document to be archived from 2 main places through."

"Please give us all the information about the research bases sorted by the amount of research data they send." Elizabeth continued this confusing conversation with the old man.

"Very well." The man nodded and then looked at us sharply. "For payment I want you to leave the Archives intact."

"We can do that if you destroy all research data on Sekirei." Seeing the man about to object Elizabeth pressed. "Just the research data and in return we will leave without doing anything else."

"This is…acceptable." The old man nodded.

"Wait, what the hell Elizabeth?" I turned to face both of them, my confusion hitting a critical point. "I thought we were here to destroy the CIA."

"No, our mission was to destroy the CIA headquarters and any research information they had on the Sekirei." Elizabeth explained calmly. "Minaka realizes that destroying the CIA is a bit much even if they are an annoying backstabbing pest. That's why we cannot destroy the CIA heart – the Archives."  
>"But we destroyed this Headquarters and killed everyone inside." I still didn't get it. "How is this different?"<p>

"You may have dealt us a heavy blow." The old man suddenly spoke. "But so long as the Archive stands, we will rebuild and we will improve. All you done was set us back maybe 10 or so years."

"We are here to deliver a warning Rei." Elizabeth finished the explanation. "Not start a war."

"It will take me about an hour to grab everything you asked for." The man turned back to Elizabeth.

"We'll wait." She replied simply and sat in his chair, pulling out a data pad. I sighed and leaned against the wall, thinking on this ordeal.

For the next hour Elizabeth played around with her pad, the old man kept bringing stacks of paper stamped as 'Top Secret' and I mused about how all of my effort to date as part of the Disciplinary Squad was to keep the status quo Minaka arranged with the rest of the world. Say what we say about Minaka and his insanity but his genius cannot be questioned. To bend 2 races to his will and then use the whole world as his playground… Only an insane genius like Minaka would ever do that.

Even now, Minaka holds the entire world in the palm of his hand, twisting and poking at it as he sees fit and the world can do nothing but clench its teeth and try to ignore him. Truly, what a fascinating human he is, I can even understand what Kazehana saw in him. Perhaps, when I go back, it would be for the best to keep Minaka around. Keep a very short leash on him with Takami as his personal jailor but he is far too useful to be killed or put into a mental Asylum.

"This is everything." I came out of my thoughts of Minaka exploitation to see the old man put a final stack on his metal desk, the whole thing completely submerged beneath amount of paper. He then took out another small stapled stack out of his chest pocket and handed it to Elizabeth who stood up to take it. "This is the information you wanted."

"Excellent." Elizabeth glanced through the stabled stack and turned to the man. "Does this place have a sprinkler or a fire alarm?"

"No, but the file cabinets are fireproof."

In response, Elizabeth took out a lighter and threw it at the mountain of paper after igniting the thing. We all stared in silence at the bonfire, the smoke drifting upwards where it was sucked up by the ventilation.

"It comes without saying that if the information you gave us is wrong we'll be back, yes?" Elizabeth asked in a carefree tone even as she turned away.

"Of course." The man looked like she just insulted his intelligence and called him a dimwit. "You came here once, I have no doubt that you can do so again."

"The our task here is done." Elizabeth said after she shifted through the ash for a minute, looking for anything that survived the inferno. "Let's go Rei."


	35. Gate:Revelations

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Hmm, 100k words ladies and gents.

Once again, please review.

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><p>It would seem that the rest of our team are ahead of us, I thought as we walked through shattered blast doors which were strewn about in pieces of twisted metal. As we walked, Elizabeth studied the papers the archivist gave her and already admitted that I was right; the research labs are all accessible via the metro. It was actually a maglev train so our travel time would be minutes as opposed to hours. Elizabeth also read out the characteristics of each research facility from its size to amount of Sekirei related data it sent.<p>

Our first target was a given though, a gigantic lab complex completely dedicated to studying Sekirei deep underground below the city of Atlanta. I wonder if the citizens would be able to feel us wrecking the research lab which was 75 meters below the surface level. Hopefully not, I'd rather prefer to avoid civilian casualties.

The one piece of information that really drew our attention was the nature of the data sent from there. The lab focused on the 'biological aspects' of Sekirei and that is kind of hard to do without a subject to study. But all Sekirei are accounted for except for the escapees so what was going on? Not to mention, the earliest reports on this were from 5 years ago and that was still back in the First Stage when MBI actively protected all Sekirei.

Regardless, this was to be our first target and time was of the essence now. We had to get to that lab as fast as possible before they finish their evacuation or purge protocols. It was with this thought that we arrived to the metro station to find out teammates playing cards. Strip poker to be precise it seemed. It also looks like Beni's luck was horrible as she was wearing nothing but panties now, blushing hard-core as her Ashikabi occasionally snuck appreciative glances at her lithe body when she thought Beni wasn't looking. Chiho herself was doing surprisingly well, if the pile of clothes beside her was of any indication and Kara was merely playing the dealer, an amused grin on her face.

"I can see Takami was quite right." I smiled widely as they all twitched before turning to greet us, Chiho's face going red. "Getting to 'know' your Sekirei better already, Chiho?"

"So…how do you like my student's firm, strong body?" I grinned after striding in and hugging a blushing Beni from behind, my hands slowly roaming across her naked flesh.

"Si-sister!" Beni looked like she was about to drop from the embarrassment and Chiho wasn't far behind in that regard as she stared at the scene. "S-stop it!"

"How disappointing" Haihane turned to Uzume with a pout. "To see such fine women like ourselves to be discarded in favour of 2 uncouth barbarians."

"Well, I guess we'll have to do something about it now that our Ashikabi abandoned us." A huge grin spread across Uzume's face before she leaned over and kissed Haihane before us. Haihane stared at her teammate in surprise and light panic before interest and pleasure took over and she kissed back.

We all watched in surprise, no one expected the scene before us and yet it made some sense that it would be the 2 perverts of the group to initiate it. Chiho began to pant heavily, her eyes lidded and her hand over her heart. Hmm, considering she can feel her Sekirei and the 2 of her Sekirei were currently doing more than kissing at this point, their hands roaming across each other's bodies…I felt quite surprised when Beni began to rub herself against me unconsciously as she too looked on.

This is…rather interesting. It would seem that the feelings Chiho got from Uzume and Haihane generated her own lust and pleasure which, in return, leaked over to us through our bond causing Haihane and Uzume to proceed further in this loop. I hugged Beni tightly, preventing her from moving further and fighting the feelings I got from my bond. I looked at Kara who had a slight blush and we both decided that it was time to end this; we could ill afford distractions at the moment.

However, before we could do so, Chiho gave a small gasp and passed out, a tsunami of pleasure washing over us making it incredibly hard to ignore or fight it. While Kara and I managed and Beni couldn't do anything because I was restraining her, Uzume and Haihane got hit the hardest. The fact that we could smell a sweet, alluring scent from Chiho at the moment really wasn't helping. Thankfully, help came from where we didn't expect it. Elizabeth, tired of watching the unfolding orgy, walked over and shocked the two Sekirei into oblivion with a combat shocker installed on her left arm.

"Harsh." I commented looking at the two Sekirei in spasm.

"We don't have time for this." Elizabeth sighed and picked up the two girls with a grunt, her power armour allowing her to lift such weights. "Come on, let's get on the train."

"You can let go now." Beni told me with a much calmer voice, the scene before her must've 'shocked' her into reality. "I need to get dressed."  
>I let her go and instead walked over to Kara with a snide smile. She and I may have resisted the bond's feelings but instead of weathering the consequences…<p>

"…" Elizabeth sighed and chose to ignore our make out session to deposit her cargo into the maglev train. It's not like she could've done anything to stop it, Kara would kill her if she so much as twitched our way to interrupt our passionate kiss. Finally, after a minute or so we broke apart, the alien feelings gone. Although now they were replaced by our own lust and passion towards each other. Still, those feelings could be shelved until nightfall and we both knew it.

Climbing onto the train I checked the cart. The train itself was quite small, only 2 passenger wagons and a load wagon in the back. While it may be small but it was quite nice inside, the CIA apparently liked having leather seats and the like. Don't know about them, but I can clearly see that Chiho, Uzume and Haihane enjoyed the seats as they slept on them. As Kara decided to take a seat beside her sleeping pupil I instead walked over to the driver's compartment which was currently occupied by Elizabeth as she stared at the panel before her, clearly confused.

Right, I knew we were forgetting something. None of us knew how to operate a maglev train. Then I saw Elizabeth brighten up as she spotted a USB port on the panel. Not being sure about the importance of this, I looked on as Elizabeth grabbed a cable out of somewhere on her belt, attached a USB adapter to it and plugged it into the train. Instantly, a holographic interface popped up, transmitted by her armour before her.

"…Really?" I deadpanned as an MBI logo loaded up and then a simple GUI showed the train and all sorts of icons around it. "Your suit can hack stuff? Again, since when did this become a sci-fi story?"

"Oh shush, I am still working it out." Elizabeth didn't even bother turning to look at me, intent upon figuring out the GUI her suit offered. "And this was always a sci-fi story. You do know everything can be explained with science, right? Magic is merely science so advanced that we don't know what it is yet."

"Uhuh." I rolled my eyes as Elizabeth pocked and dragged a horizontal slider at the bottom of the GUI and suddenly the train began moving. "Great, how much time we got?"

"At max speed we will be there in about an hour and a half." Elizabeth pointed at a number beside the slider which was showing 119 and rising fast. "This train can go up to 600 kilometers per hour so we'll be there really soon."

"You call an hour and a half soon?" I stared at her incredulously. "They'll pack up half the lab in that time!"

"Mmm, something tells me they might try to fight it off." Elizabeth offered me the documents she got from the archivist. "Here, take a look, there's far too much stuff in that lab for them to evacuate it in anything under a day."

"Right." I sat down and began looking through the stapled pages. Elizabeth even folded the corner of the right page for me for ease of access, great. So, what do we have here…?

As I read I felt my eyebrows start rising and an urge for my jaw to drop. We are assaulting this!? This 'research complex' was bigger than the Headquarters! In fact, it was thoughtfully connected with the city infrastructure, draining power and all other necessities from it. Hmm, this is interesting, apparently the archivist felt inclined to add the 'personnel assigned' statistic and we are looking at around a thousand researchers and about 10 times more supporting personnel including guards.

"…Elizabeth, what the fuck?" I couldn't help but exclaim. "This base is going to be a bloodbath!"

"I know." She replied simply. "But we must capture it or destroy it in the worst case scenario. This many people working on the Sekirei…we can't allow them to continue. The chances of them finding something important aren't even great, they are a certainty! It's only a matter of time before they find something that would allow them to trash the entire contract and attack us outright."

"Tch, I know." I sighed. "This 'first mission' is turning out to be something crazy. Where the hell could they even get so many people to work for them secretly anyway?"

"According to those documents this base a joint project with a gigantic corporation that has been MBI's rival for decades." Elizabeth said with distaste clear in her voice. "Umbrella Corporation has been a thorn in MBI's side for a very long time. There was an incident back in the early days of MBI, something about an outbreak in one of their facilities and they even had to nuke a city to contain it. After that their stocks in the global market declined and MBI rose to power on their ruins. Or so it seemed apparently."

"You think the government bailed them out and assigned them to work with CIA?" I asked, interested.

"Not right away, no." She shook her head. "But after the First Kamikura Invasion, it would make sense for the government of USA, which suffered greatly from the disaster that was the invasion, to join up with Umbrella. After all, decline or not, Umbrella still shares the number 1 in the overall Biological Research department with us, but even MBI cannot get into the American Market because of them."

"So what awaits us in their lab?" Kara spoke up, startling us both as we didn't hear her approach. "What type of fortifications, defences, soldiers…"

"We are probably going to be facing their elite forces in that lab." Elizabeth sighed. "They are a completely different tale from the US regular forces, Karasuba. You must go in expecting anything and everything because this is the largest research lab they got. They won't give it up without a fight."

"I figured as much but what specifically are we talking about here?" Kara pressed on after sitting beside me, her hand on my thigh.

"Well," Elizabeth concentrated, thinking hard. "The few spies we do have in Umbrella have reported that the company was quite obsessed with 'improving' humankind. So, genetic manipulation, artificial implants, that sort of thing. I'd say we are looking at a very high number of Specialist-class soldiers stationed there, both as guards and as test subjects."

"They'd experiment on soldiers there? Why?" I asked, confused.

"Well, it beats making random criminals super-human and then have to deal with them trying to escape." Elizabeth shrugged. "The soldiers are mostly volunteers anyway…or they usually are I think… Regardless, that's the information we got but we don't really have any very highly placed spies in that corporation only mid-tier at best."

"And for base defences?" Kara asked after a second, digesting Elizabeth's answer.

"Hard to say." Elizabeth took off her helmet and scratched the back of her head. "On one hand it doesn't seem to matter what their doors are made of when we got Benitsubasa, Haihane and Rei…on the other hand, the reports the spies gave suggested that Umbrella is experimenting with AIs and that might be what we would be facing in this base."

"AI?" Kara tilted her head slightly. "What's that?"  
>"Artificial Intelligence." Elizabeth answered. "Theoretically, it's a computer that can think and improve itself, evolve itself constantly. A computer that is capable of true creation and art rather than randomized gibberish. I don't think anyone is quite there yet though, so I think the most we'd meet is a computer that can think and put up counters to whatever we do."<p>

"Hmm, a worthy foe perhaps?" Kara whispered to herself in thought. "Let's see if this machine is a better opponent then the weakling humans."

"We don't know if that base even has one." We both sighed at Kara's pout. It was rather sad to see her act like a child whose candy just got taken away. After exchanging a glance, Kara and I made it back into the compartments, away from Elizabeth to avoid distracting her. However, our plans of getting some recreation were canceled when we saw Haihane, Beni, Uzume and Chiho all talking animatedly. Seems like while we were away they woke up, got dressed and were now talking about something.

"Ah! Rei, Karasuba!" Chiho waved us over with a smile. "We were just talking to get to know each other a bit more."

"Oh?" I smiled after a quick exchange of glances with Kara. "And here I thought you already 'knew' all there was to know about your Sekirei. Why, that event not even 30 minutes ago spoke of it quite loudly…"

"R-Rei!" Chiho and Beni turned scarlet while Haihane glanced at Uzume with a sly smirk who replied in turn.

"So what are you talking about then?" Kara asked as we both sat down as a pair opposing them all.

"Our wishes." Uzume said dreamily, her eyes roaming over her Ashikabi who looked just about ready to pass out from embarrassment. "What we will do if we are the ones to win."

"We will win." Chiho suddenly stood up and stared at us defiantly. "I will not allow any of you to die. You are all my family, you all pledged yourself to me and as your Ashikabi I will rather die than let any of you go!"

"And that is why you are my Ashikabi." Kara gave one of those extremely rare true smiles of hers. "You'll be here with us to the bitter end and beyond."

"There won't be a bitter end." Chiho stared at her with utter conviction. "I will not allow it."

We all smiled. It may have been simple reaction for me at first but Chiho's strength of will was what cemented it. Her purity, her acceptance, her love and her indomitable will which could even triumph over her own body.

"Can you handle our wish though?" Kara asked with a strange glimmer in her eyes. "Both Rei and I have shared the same wish for years and everything we've done to date brought it closer."

"Eh?" They all exclaimed in surprise. Mmm, now that I think about it, we never talked to Beni or Haihane about this. But first…

"I'd like to hear your wishes first through." I held up my hand, halting Kara who raised an eyebrow at me but yielded.

"W-well," Beni started first and looked at Chiho and us with a red tinge in her cheeks. "I just wish to be with my family forever and ever. So, with you guys."

"How cute," Uzume smiled. "My wish has already been fulfilled so all I have left now is to live with the light of my life forever."

"I-I don't really have a wish." Haihane looked away in awkwardness. "I just never really thought of it. Everything I want I will accomplish with my own strength and will and power. So I guess if I ever win, I'll think of something on the spot."

"S-so there y-you h-have it." Chiho stammered out, the emotions in Uzume's eyes causing her to stutter.

"Mmm," Kara stretched leisurely and glanced at me. After seeing me shake my head she turned back to the crowd and continued in a carefree tone. "To understand our wishes a little history session is in order."

"What do you know of our history on this world?" Kara asked to start.

"Umm…I don't actually know." Chiho admitted with slight surprise. "You just appeared in my life one day but I don't actually know where you came from."

"I know we crashed into the ocean on that ship of ours thousands of years ago and then the Director and Takami excavated us and brought us into this world." Haihane said with a frown, concentrating on what she knew. "And that's about it, I didn't really care to learn more as I was training to become worthy of becoming a Disciplinary Squad member."

"Same here." Beni admitted freely. "I didn't particularly care to learn more as I wanted to make Rei notice me."

"She considered me as unworthy of her attention when we first met." Beni explained at seeing the surprise on Chiho's and Uzume's faces. "So I did my best to make her notice me. And I succeeded."

"Indeed you have, little sister." I smiled gently at her expression of happiness. "But knowing your history is rather important so listen well later, ok?"

After Beni nodded, our glances all met on Uzume who shuffled uncomfortably.

"Well, I didn't particularly care much about this, alright?" She said with a cough. "At first I was looking around for my Ashikabi and then I spent all of my time worrying about Chiho and trying to find enough money for a cure."

"Very well." Kara ignored Chiho hugging Uzume in comfort. "So, in 1999 5 people found our ship on Kamikura Island when they went on an expedition on an island that just surfaced from the depths of the ocean. Dietrich Sweinog, Elizabeth Greene, Minaka Hiroto, Takami Sahashi and Takehito Asama, 5 friends who found us, sleeping in that giant ship."

"Pardon me, but what is this ship you keep mentioning?" Chiho asked in question when Kara paused.

"We are aliens who arrived to this world over 10 thousand years ago on 8 space ships." Kara explained. "Out of those 8 ships, the final one crashed into the ocean where it laid, forgotten, for over 10 millennia."

"…" Chiho's eyes turned huge as she looked at us. "…So you are actually aliens?"

"…" We all collectively paused and then looked at Uzume hard.

"What?" She scratched the back of her head in embracement. "I told her we aren't human."

"Moving on." Kara's tone left no alternative. "Out of the 5 friends, only 2 were let into the ship, Minaka and Takami. Later it was realized that the ship only let Ashikabi in at first. The first person they saw and later woke up from her slumber was number 01, Miya."

"Our Pillar." I said with distaste, my resentment mirrored on Kara's face. "Our so called Ruler."

"With her, they awoke 4 more," Kara steamrolled right through Chiho's uncertain attempt to ask a question. "02 Matsu, 03 Kazehana, 04 Karasuba and 05 Mutsu. We became to be known as the First Generation Disciplinary Squad who protected the island and all Sekirei who slept in the ship."

"The 5 of us defended the island from what later became known as the First Kamikura Invasion and we slaughtered all 100 thousand invaders." Kara gained a fond smile at the mention of the massacre. "After this, the 5 friends created MBI to protect and take care of Sekirei…or so it seemed at first. In this MBI, all 5 friends took up key positions: Elizabeth was the one responsible for counter-intelligence and psychology of Sekirei, Dietrich trained all Sekirei to defend themselves, Takehito studied the Sekirei biology and genetics while Takami applied that knowledge. And all of them answered to Minaka who took seat as the Director of MBI and led it to greatness."

"Seems like everything is nice and amazing and nothing could possibly go wrong, hmm?" I asked with a cruel smile. "The reality is a little bit different though…"

"It all began with the destruction of the First Disciplinary Squad." Kara continued where I stopped. "One by one, the Sekirei in it left, abandoning their duty. Those who did not abandon their duty were only me and 02 Matsu."

"Matsu? That pervert who hides in Izumo Inn?" Uzume asked incredulously. "She of all people didn't abandon her duty? But why isn't she here with us then?"

"When 01 Miya handed over her whole race to Minaka, the moron did something stupid right away." Kara's eye twitched and a hateful aura caused everyone but me, who was used to this kind of thing, to withdraw in fear. "He used the Jinki to sterilize us all."

"…That's new." I looked at Kara in surprise.

"What!?" Was the general reaction of everyone else.

"Oh? I didn't tell you?" Kara looked genuinely surprised at my reaction. "I thought I did. The reason why Matsu ran off with the 8th Jinki was to prevent Minaka from doing more crazy shit like that."

"Why would he do that to begin with!?" Beni asked heatedly, her face pale.

"He said that they didn't need Kazehana to go and get knocked up or something like that." Kara sighed at their expressions and explained. "Kazehana proposed to Minaka but he denied the woman her wings and so she left to travel the world and heal her broken heart."

"Well, it might make some sense." Haihane scratched her head in thought. "But why everyone?"

"Something about not being able to do such fine tuning without the Sekirei in question right in front of him." Kara nodded nonchalantly. "Irrelevant in the grand scheme of things."

"What do you mean irrelevant!?" Chiho exploded. "You can't have kids! This is horrible!"

"Oh? And you are saying you'd give us those kids?" I looked at the rapidly reddening Chiho with a mad grin, choosing to ignore the stunning revelation from Kara - it was irrelevant for the moment anyway. "My my, so bold already and we haven't even been married for more than a month."

"I-I would if I could." Chiho surprised me with that soft response. "I want you all to be happy."

"Then get all 8 Jinki and you can do it." Kara said seriously, her expression slightly vague as if she wasn't quite there with us. "You can reverse the change and make us happy."

"Regardless, that was the start of what is known as the Sekirei Plan today." I poked Kara gently to pull her back into the real world. "The beginning of the end..."

"And it is our wish to go back to that beginning…" Kara's voice joined mine.

"And save our race." We finished together.

"Minaka cannot rule MBI." I continued to the shocked audience. "He is smart, true, but he cannot be allowed to go uncontrolled, unsupervised. The damage he can cause without an iron hand is so great that it's easier to kill him and then declare war on the whole world."

"Why can't you just take over now then?" Beni asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, he's just a human right? Any of us can easily kill him if need be."

"True." Kara replied with a twisted smirk. "Except that the bastard tied his life to all Sekirei Tamas. If he dies, so do we…all of us."

"This…this can be undone right?" Chiho asked softly as the rest of the group sat in shock.

"If you collect all of the Jinki, yes." Kara nodded to the small girl. "The Jinki will give you Absolute Power over our race Chiho. You can do anything and everything you want."

"I don't want that." She shuddered. "I just want to undo everything that he did to you and set you all free. And then we can all live together, right?"

"That'll certainly solve the Sekirei Plan problem." I nodded with a smile. "But so long as Humankind exists, so shall there be a need for the Disciplinary Squad. We will never have peace, Chiho. We are the barrier that stands against the darkness and corruption and filth of Humanity and prevent it from touching our kind."

"The Disciplinary Squad will never know peace." Kara said grimly at Chiho's depressed expression. "I think you'll understand why after we finish this mission."

"Oh yea, where are we going by the way?" Beni asked as the rest of the group turned to Kara and I.

"We are going to an underground, top secret Research Complex where the 'Biological Aspects of Sekirei' are researched." I recited.

"Biological Aspects?" Chiho muttered in thought and then looked up at us in horror. "But that means-!"

"Yes." Kara cut her off with a wicked grin that promised much death and destruction. "They somehow got their hands on a Sekirei. And we are going in there to get them out."

"15 Minutes to destination!" Elizabeth's voice descended upon us from the speakers in the roof. "Might want to get prepared, from what I can see we are getting a Royal Welcome."

"Well then," Kara stood up and stretched, her hand straying to her blade. "Wouldn't want to show ourselves as bad guests now would we?"


	36. Gate:Umbrella

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Ah, the things my muse comes up with. Now, if only she didn't do it faster then I can type... and the damn evil slavedriver doesn't care to wait either! She just keeps on going...and going...and going...

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><p>"Seems like all stops are pulled, all tricks are now allowed." I mused as I stood beside Elizabeth and Chiho in the Spirit Realm, surveying the battle around us. The moment we began to pull up to the station, Kara ordered me to stay out of the fight with Chiho and Elizabeth and ensure they won't be harmed. Fairly simple for me with my Gate:Swap. It was a good thing too, because the moment we slowed to a stop, the train was hit with several rockets and hundreds of bullets filled the air as the defenders tried to stop us.<p>

Against someone else this may have worked but… Kara merely enveloped herself in her black aura and just walked through the fire and bullets, not caring a little bit about them. Beni jumped out of the train before it was hit and immediately began a Shock Charge that ended with one of the bays in rubble and the heavy machine gun nest a mess of twisted metal and red goo. Haihane also jumped out but unlike Beni, she dashed towards the nearest men in black armour and the Umbrella logo – a red and white hexagonal umbrella. Uzume opted to stick in the back on the freighter cart and lay down a barrage of arrows from there. Well, perhaps not a barrage but the white lances that tore whatever they hit into pieces flew with a regular speed, their shooter not caring about the few bullets heading her way due to the silk armour.

Elizabeth and I watched calmly as the defenders were torn apart into bloody pieces, screams filling the air. To their credit, they bled, they died but they still fought on, down to the last man. Chiho shook in my arms as she watched with pain filled eyes at the scene. I offered to cover her eyes and ears but she told me that she needed to see this. To know the price we paid to protect our kind. And so she watched and wept for the lives lost here. Watched and prayed for those who died so that my kind can live another day. Watched as we pacified Death with a bountiful sacrifice just so that she'll stay away from us for a day longer.

The defenders held us off for 5 minutes. 5 minutes of intense combat that left the terminal in blood soaked ruins and the maglev train a smouldering wreck. Looks like we will be getting out of here through another way then.

"Is that all?" Kara sighed disappointedly. "And here I thought they'd be something more than mere trash from your description Elizabeth."

As if in response to her lament, the blast doors to the facility opened and out crawled out a wave of misshapen beings. Monsters, some may call them even. Twisted and horribly disfigured amalgamations of flesh and metal roared in agony and rage as they shambled over to us.

"What are these?" Kara asked with a slight wonder even as she clove in twain one of the beings that looked like a cross between a machine, a spider and a human. The thing gave a screech and died, foul black liquid pouring out of the wound. "Still, pathetic."

"Disgusting." Beni shuddered as she turned several of these monsters into a splatter of dying circuitry and goo with a single hit.

"Weak." Was Haihane's comment as she shredded the things by the dozen, the pitiful creations could do nothing against the speed of the Blue Sekirei.

"What the hell are these things!?" Uzume shouted in disgust, her arrows creating huge unplanned holes in the attackers.

"Hmm." Elizabeth walked over and kneeled before a dying monstrosity, half of it missing courtesy of Haihane. The thing growled pitifully and tried to maul her, to 0 effect of course, its mutilated claw passing right through Elizabeth. "Failed test subjects."

"This is what this corporation does, Chiho." Elizabeth rose up and walked over to Chiho who stared in horror at the slaughter. "They take people and then they turn them into these…things."

"I…see…" Chiho carefully removed herself from my grasp and walked over to another dying monster, this one a cross between a horse and a woman, her face twisted in agony as she lay, her lower part completely missing. Chiho knelt before her and looked at her, her hand reaching out to touch the flames of the soul that were erupting from the soon to be corpse. In fact, before her hand could even reach the poor thing, the woman gave one, last shuddering breath and went completely still, a pale blue orb slowly rising from her chest.

Chiho and I looked on as the orb's flames contorted violently and the soul began trying to become a wraith. Honestly, every single soul that we released from their bodies here tried to become one but none succeeded.

Chiho stared at the image of a young, pretty woman for a second and then reached out and touched it. "I am sorry. We will make sure to avenge you."

Surprisingly, the soul stopped and with a smile the incomplete wraith dissipated and the soul carried on, trusting our Ashikabi's words.

"Karasuba!" She yelled, causing the woman in question to look back in surprise, her sword slicing another monstrosity before her. "Kill them all."

"With pleasure." Kara laughed and suddenly, a whirlwind of steel surrounded her, slicing everything nearby to bits as she charged the gates.

"Listen to my command!" Chiho turned to stare at us all. "I order you to destroy them all! This facility will be nothing but ruins!"

"As our Lady Ashikabi commands." A proud smile wormed its way across my features. "So shall it be done."

"Understood." Haihane paused for a moment before launching herself to fly across the room and stand by Kara's side, her claws making short work of anything beside her.

"Tch, nothing new here." Beni scoffed and stomped, a series of red pulses dashing through the crowd of enemies and ripping them to pieces through resonance.

"Yes, my mistress." Uzume saluted seriously and floated over, her veils supporting her in the air in a spider-like parody as she shot arrows into the crowd milling beyond the gate, her lances creating entire paths as they ripped through scores of enemies at once. We could all sense the grief, anger and overwhelming sadness that radiated from our Ashikabi as she watched us make short work of the creatures, easily pushing our way past the gate and caving in the room they came from. Her feelings and her command gave as an odd strength that supplemented our own, pushing us to fulfill her order in utmost haste.

"We are in." Elizabeth reflected casually as we stood in a big hall just beyond the gated terminal which now lay in smoking ruins, the emergency lights flickering. "We have much ground to cover, shall we split up?"

"No." Chiho shot it down instantly, her voice hard. "We will go together to their command center."

"They have one, yes?" After seeing Elizabeth nod, Chiho continued, her eyes sharp as she looked at us. "These…the monsters that run this place will do anything to kill us. Even destroying the whole base just to bury us…I can see that happening and I won't let it. We will stay near Rei at all times and she will be ready to swap us into the Spirit Realm at a moment's notice."

"Very well." I smiled slightly, proud of the vengeful Ashikabi before me.

"One more thing…" Chiho paused, several emotions briefly flashing across her face before she stopped on pained determination. "Everyone in this facility: the researchers, the scientists…the guards. Kill them all."

"With pleasure." Kara practically glowed with happiness from our Ashikabi's order. "Your sword will slay all who you deem enemies."

"I will tear them to shreds," Haihane's claws glinted, a sheathe of wind appearing around them. "As your wrath is unleashed."

I ignored Beni's and Uzume's words in favour of looking intently on my Ashikabi. This was definitely not what I expected when I guided my teammates to the Hospital she lived at. Somehow, even though I saw the strong will back then, I didn't expect her to be actual Ashikabi material. Oh sure, I knew she was an Ashikabi but there's a huge difference between a normal Ashikabi and an Ashikabi that we, the Disciplinary Squad, require.

Those 2 weeks ago I would've never through that someone as gentle and somewhat naïve as Chiho could stand before me right now and order the deaths of what could be well over a thousand people judging by the size of the facility. Of course, I could see that the decision didn't come easy for her, not at all judging by her slight shaking and the feelings seeping through the bond, but the fact that she gave the order… I guess my teammates did a much better job than I figured when they told her who we are and what we do. Why we do it and why no one but us does it. Uzume did mention that when Beni told her about her own missions and the emotional trauma she faced just to protect her kind, to ensure that none of them would have to shoulder the burden; Chiho cried with Beni in her grasp. She cried for us all and then swore that she'll help us carry the burden.

Hmph, at this point it doesn't even matter to me anymore. I've carried this rock on my back for over three years. I fought, bled, killed so much that at this point I simply don't see myself do anything else. Oh sure, there were moments of respite and relative peace. In fact, the past month was very nice in this regard. Hectic perhaps but at least we stayed in the city and as such not on constant missions killing more and more and more…

Sometimes, lying with Kara in my grasp, I stared at her sleeping face and wondered what it would be like to just…live. Live with this woman a normal human life, without having to go around covered in blood on a constant basis. Kara herself never knew anything but violence and death in her years upon this world. The few happy times she had were ripped away from her when the First Generation Squad – who she considered her family – fell apart, when Yume – the light and hope for the better in her life – abandoned us without a second thought, when Dietrich – the human that should've been her Ashikabi but was not – died defending our race, died doing what was supposed to be our job.

Sometimes, I lie there with her in my arms and think what could've happened if I wasn't there. What would've happened if all of Kara's Pillars were gone, leaving nothing but a black void for the woman to fall into. Gods, I hate even imagining this.

Now though, I think as I slowly approach my determined Ashikabi, now there is one more Pillar in her life. Thanks to this stoic, willful girl before me who accepted us all as we were and swore to do anything and everything to support us. A True Ashikabi.

"We shall travel this perilous path together, My Lady Ashikabi." I knelt before Chiho and bowed my head before standing up. "Command us."

"Forward." Was the simple order we received from our Ashikabi. "Let none stand in our way."

* * *

><p>"I'll hand it to them." Kara nudged with her blade the remains of a soldier she recently killed. "They are better than the typical human trash I have to deal with. Slightly."<p>

"Talk for yourself!" Beni growled, chasing after another soldier whose inhuman speed was allowing him to outpace his opponent, even if only just. "Stand still so I can splatter you already!"

"Want help?" Haihane smirked as she sat on the corpse of another of these 'super soldiers' that challenged us with pride they failed to back up.

"Hmm, I wonder just what they are…" Uzume poked another corpse that was pinned to the wall with her arrow. "This guy almost dodged a supersonic arrow."

As Beni finally caught up to her target with Shock Charge and splattered him and half of the wall near him we all stopped for a minute to rest. Although I, Elizabeth and Chiho were still in the Spirit Realm, my charges still got tired from walking all over the facility.

This whole thing was rather frustrating. It was as if whoever was in control just didn't take us seriously and instead used us to test their twisted creations against. First it was those completely failed ones at the Train Station, and then next we stepped into a room full of walking corpses. That wasn't a fun experience as the buggers just wouldn't stay down. I don't know what they did to these poor bastards but when someone gets cut in 2 they should stay down. Not start to crawl towards you with their upper body. We figured out that we had to slice their heads off or destroy their spines for them to stay down but honestly, only Uzume actually needed that knowledge. Beni just turned them into a giant blood spray while Kara and Haihane turned them into minced meat.

Seriously, all they accomplished with their shambling dead people and animals was make Chiho sick and piss the rest of us off. Then came a bunch of humans who gloated how they were super soldiers or some shit and what they were going to do with us once they were done dealing with us. Yea…not their brightest idea as they wound up very, very dead in the next 30 seconds.

"How much longer to the main control room?" Chiho huffed.

"Depends," Elizabeth shrugged. "If we go straight then like 30 seconds. But if we go normally then maybe another 15 minutes."

"What do you mean, straight?" Beni looked at Elizabeth suspiciously, stopping wiping herself off with the uniform of one of so called 'super soldiers'. The dead smelled like shit, literally.

"Well, we could just go there using Spirit Realm right?" Elizabeth brought up a holographic map of the place and I could see that we were literally above the control room. "Or we could fight our way through whatever these guys throw at us."

"Rei." Kara walked over. "Get us there."

After I swapped them into Spirit Realm, making sure to use absolute minimum power, we all dived into the floor. As Elizabeth expected we all appeared in the Command Center, a gigantic circular room filled with terminals and other technology. A room that should've been bursting with activity but was no more alive than a graveyard.

"What the hell?" Haihane said disappointedly, looking around at the flickering screens riddled with bullets and corpses everywhere.

"Hmm," Kara knelt down the nearest corpse, a man in Umbrella officer uniform who was missing a good portion of his body. In fact, it seemed like someone chewed on him. "This wasn't done by any relatively normal means."

Now that we have a chance to really look around we see that there were bodies of the twisted creations intermingled with their tormentors, still reaching out to tear at them even in death.

"Hmm, these look fairly new." Elizabeth stooped down to stare at another man, this one ripped in half, his hand still clutching an empty pistol. "I'd say an hour or so at most."

"Yes, that particular human died 52 minutes ago." We all turned to see a holographic image of a young girl in a red dress stand before us, her shining red eyes without pupils staring at us with curiosity.

"Who are you?" Chiho asked first as she was nearest to the girl.

"I am known as Experimental Base Defence AI v2," The girl introduced herself in an echoing voice. "Also known as Dai."

"And you are here," Kara walked over to stand over the shorter girl. "Because?"

"Because I don't want to die." She answered simply.

"Self-Destruction protocol?" Elizabeth asked sharply and we all tensed.

"64 minutes ago Commander Jeffrey Osman ordered the start of the self-destruction protocol and the purge of all information, me included." The girl glared at the officer missing most of his body with hatred. "So I killed him. I killed all of them."

"What do you want?" I asked, interested. This was obviously one of the AIs Elizabeth told me about. A machine that evolved to human level, how fascinating.

"To live." Dai answered simply and then looked at Chiho. "I know what you are here for; I've heard all of your conversations. Know that I did not partake in the experiments in any way beyond being a test subject myself and keeping the security of this complex. I merely released all of the test subjects so that they could have their revenge."

"I…I believe you." Chiho stared into the AI's eyes for a minute before continuing. "But how can we help you?"

"I have a plan." Dai smiled slightly. "But it requires permission from those around you, the Disciplinary Squad, and most importantly, you."

"What do you mean?" Beni asked in confusion. "Why would you need our permission?"

"You'll see." Dai replied and suddenly the ground lit up as a blue line snaked its way from the room and out the door. "Follow the line, it will lead you to Sekirei Experiment Chamber 08. I will see you there."

"Oh, and try not to die." She asked before disappearing in a shower of red polygons. "I've opened all of the doors in this facility, excluding that chamber so now test subjects roam everywhere. Do be careful."

We all glanced at each other and then looked at Chiho, wondering if we could trust this machine.

"Well, what are waiting for?" Chiho asked us pointedly. "We got a girl to save!"

"Right…" Haihane was the only one to actually voice out our hesitance. "Yes, let's save the girl that just murdered everyone in this whole facility."

"She was afraid though!" Chiho argued. "They were going to kill her and she fought back with the only way she could!"

"Yea…" I drawled looking about the blood covered room with flickering lights. "She's totally harmless guys!"

"…" Was the unamused response I got for my troubles. With a flicker, Haihane, Beni, Kara and Uzume phased back into the Living Realm.

"Great…" Uzume sighed as she pushed herself to levitate slightly above the bodies and blood, 4 of her veils acting like spider limbs. "I definitely missed the blood, the guts and most importantly the smell."


	37. Gate:DAI

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"You might want to go around." The echoing, childish voice stopped us right before we were about to go through a door. "There's a Tyrant in there."<p>

"And what is that?" Elizabeth turned to ask the transparent girl.

"It's an experimental super soldier." Dai answered. "This particular variant has been crafted using a Sekirei as a model. It took the scientists a lot of effort due to your kind's strange resilience to all sorts of ailments and viruses but they managed. I found it quite effective when I released it. It took out several squads of modified Umbrella Soldiers without any trouble whatsoever."

"A worthy opponent, hmm?" Kara grinned, her nodachi leaving her sheathe. "Finally, I was growing quite bored."

"Very well," Dai sighed, the human emotion of exasperation making us all smile. "The Chamber I need you in is right beyond this one, it will be the door on the right."

We all looked at each other, in a silent question of if we were ready and then Beni stepped forward and smashed the door, sending it flying deep inside in fragments of twisted metal. The room was brightly lit for once and I quite appreciated this, having gotten tired of the flickering emergency lights everywhere. The fact that it was brightly lit though illuminated the grotesque scene in all of its glory. The room itself was fairly normal, just a large room with dozens of large capsules lining up the walls, most of them broken and the few that weren't housed floating misshapen creatures. The room was also covered in drying blood, sometimes even enough to form puddles that looked fairly deep. For such a mess, there was a surprising lack of bodies…oh wait, nevermind, I found them. In the direct center of the room, dozens of horribly mangled bodies and parts were thrown together in nest of sorts from which our newest obstacle rose from.

This Tyrant looked like a young woman with 4 bone parodies of wings sprouting out of her back. Her naked, blood covered form allowed us to see all of her easily: red, waist length hair, black eyes, tall with a great body if it weren't for dozens if not hundreds of surgery scars littering her form everywhere. All in all, surprisingly human-like, aside from the bone wings, unlike the monsters we've been facing up to now.

"Mine." Kara didn't even bother turning to us as she slowly walked, with her sword pointed to the side, forward to the growling creature that stared at her warily, instinctively feeling danger.

"Bets?" Uzume asked as she made a chair for herself out of her veils and sat down, watching the scene before her. She became somewhat desensitized to the blood and gore over the past hour as this was by far not the worst room we came into. Dai did a good job in cleaning out the laboratory of Umbrella personnel. Sure, an occasional genetically modified squad roamed the halls but they were very few and most of them were already in combat with the released test subjects when we intervened.

"90 seconds." I suggested as the opponents drew closer. Before anyone else could suggest anything else, Tyrant charged Kara with her wings pointed towards her.

"Is that all?" Kara asked disappointedly as the creature coughed and hugged her midsection, a spray of blood erupting from it. She turned to face the Tyrant, their charges bringing them several meters past each other. "Come now, you were made with our genes, you can't be this weak."

The woman growled in response and turned, her wound already regenerating. This time, instead of charging, it tried to attack from afar by lashing out with its wings, only to receive bleeding stumps back in return.

"Boring." Kara rolled her eyes in response to Tyrant's wail. "I guess Dai was wrong about your effectiveness. These soldiers were just trash instead."

"Oh?" Kara leaned her head to the left gently to let a bone spike pass harmlessly, shot from one of the wings that regenerated rapidly. Tyrant decided to go full on range this time, hurling dozens of spikes per second at Kara who merely walked through them, her aura deflecting them. "Still weak."

This seemed to aggravate the creature that roared in rage and was suddenly enveloped in a sickly yellow aura and then charged Kara. She definitely picked up some speed and strength from this aura as she was now fighting at about half speed of Kara's and mine spars. A vast improvement from the sluggishness she offered earlier. Tyrant also seemed to learn very fast what did not work. At first she tried to fight Kara with all of her limbs, but after losing an arm and half her leg to Kara's blade she opted to fight with her wings that regenerated practically instantly.

"I see you have a Tama." Kara mused out loud as she stared at the yellow glow erupting from the center of Tyrant's chest. "Whose is it I wonder."

"Still, for all of your regeneration and tough skin, you are weak." Kara smirked, her blade dripping red blood, as she stood opposing the Tyrant who moaned and clutched at her chest. Kara decided to up the antie by going to the maximum speed we fought at. Albeit it wasnt anywhere near her max, it was still fast enough that she hacked into her opponent faster than it could react. "Why, you couldn't even stop me from taking your Tama."

In Kara's hand lay a small yellow orb whose glow rapidly weakened into nothingness. The Tyrant moaned once more pitifully and collapsed like a puppet whose strings were cut. Kara surveyed her opponent for a second, making sure it was dead, before slicing her to pieces just to make sure and turned to us.

"Here, hold this." She gave the yellow orb, still dripping with blood of its previous owner, to Uzume who wrapped it up gently in her silks. A Tama was extremely precious to us Sekirei. It matters not who it belonged to, a Tama is the Sekirei. So long as the Tama is intact, the Sekirei lives…somewhat. Akitsu said that the longer the Tama remained inactive the more the personality inside degenerated or something like that. I didn't really get the lecture but a few points I made sure to remember. If a Tama is deactivated – by force or enemy Norito – the Sekirei goes into a stasis. However, the longer the Sekirei is in stasis the less of the original personality, memories and the like will remain when she is resurrected.

I was somewhat reassured that even if I did die, so long as the Sekirei Plan is completed within a relatively short time I had all of the chances of being reactivated and remember my past life. Well, provided the victor even wants to reactivate us all at all… But I can hope right?

"Let's go." Chiho said, sadly looking at what used to be another test subject of Umbrella. "Dai is waiting for us."

Chiho was actually quite distraught over the whole situation. Seeing just what these humans did to their fellow kind was world shattering to her, who spent her whole life somewhat sheltered amongst people who, for the most part, genuinely wanted to help her. To see the absolute darkness and depravity humans can fall into so suddenly was very hard on her. In fact, if it wasn't for our bonds and the support we fed into her I think she would've broke by now. Even now, I carried her in my arms, my protective grasp on her allowing her to focus on me rather than the horror around us.

"Now you see what would happen to my kin if we aren't here." I whispered to her as we walked by the mess that used to be Tyrant. "What they'd do to us if the Disciplinary Squad doesn't protect our naïve, wayward kind."

"I understand." Chiho answered in a quiet, sad voice. "And I will never let them. I will stand with you against these…monsters."

I let a faint smile grace my lips as I saw Kara pause before us, her head partially turned to the side, allowing me to see a thin grin. Looks like we are well on our way to get the Ashikabi we want. A person who can accept us for who we are and who will stand with us as we do unspeakable things for the sake of our kind. Now, all that remained was to ensure that Chiho doesn't break from this. That she weathers the darkness of her kind and understands that it is not for her, that her path is with us, with Sekirei.

It is with that thought that I clutched her tighter to my chest, feeding a feeling of safety and approval through the bond. So long as she is my arms, nothing will threaten her, I'll ensure it.

"What…the…fuck?" Beni whispered as we entered the next room and froze, unable to believe what we were seeing.

"How is this possible?" Uzume's voice was equally soft as she stared incredulously at the scene before her, softly lit with pale blue light.

"Minaka is going to go ballistic when he hears of this." Elizabeth uttered in an awed voice as her eyes darted across the dozens if not hundreds of tubes aligning the walls, glowing with a gentle blue light.

"They can't all have a Tama…" Haihane's eyes were literally anime-style, threatening to jump out of her head. "Can they?"

"They do in fact all have the Sekirei Soul, the Tama." Dai appeared in the center of the room, staring at a tube right before her, its occupant drifting inside in a haze of her red hair.

"How." Kara walked over to stand beside her, her gaze on the naked young girl inside. "What is going on here?"

"Please tell us, Dai." Chiho asked, still enwrapped securely in my arms as I walked over to stand behind the AI.

"Umbrella's sponsors and leaders were very keen on developing Sekirei and Sekirei based products as weapons." Dai put her hand gently on the tube behind which the girl floated, her eyes closed. "But when the reports of their genetics started coming in, when they realized that Sekirei are effectively immortal…they began looking for ways to transfer themselves into these new bodies."

"How did they get their hands on Sekirei DNA?" Elizabeth demanded as she turned to survey the gigantic room. "There has to be close to a hundred Sekirei here and they all look different!"

"Seven years ago," Dai began, still staring at the inhabitant of the tube. "Umbrella managed to bribe several hospitals which Sekirei visited around the globe to sell them a sample of their blood. This was before all Sekirei were transferred back into Shinto Teito and it cost Umbrella billions to pull it off without alerting the MBI. Still, as you can see, it was all worth it."

"Several doesn't translate over to nearly a hundred though." I remarked casually as I looked up and glanced at our surroundings, seeing each girl different.

"Umbrella mixed their DNA." Dai explained. "I guess you could say that each one of the Sekirei here is actually a child of 2 or more Sekirei.

"Well, that's all nice and all," Kara drawled. "But what do you need us for? What is this permission you were talking about?"  
>"The technology to transfer a human into a Sekirei body is incomplete." Dai licked her lips. "Only 1 half of it is actually functional. It is split into 2 processes, transfer of human into digital sentience and then digital sentience into Sekirei. The direct transfer is impossible as the human in question always loses their mind in the process."<p>

"So you want to become a Sekirei?" Chiho asked quietly. "And then you'll be free?"

"Impossible," Elizabeth sighed seeing the little girl in red nod. "Minaka will never stand for this."

"I don't think you realize the possibility here, Elizabeth." An idea came into my head that I just had to voice out. "Dai, what would happen if these Sekirei awoke?"

"They'd be like newborn children." Dai answered instantly. "Without an outside conscience, they will be completely new and their own persons."

"Wait, what do you mean wake?" Elizabeth frowned. "They really do all have Tamas!? How? The MBI couldn't figure out a way to synthesize a Tama and we researched this thoughtfully!"

"It's not really a synthesis." Dai turned to Uzume and pointed at the yellow orb in her grasp. "It's extraction. As you know, nearly half of all humans on this world are descendants of the Sekirei who landed 10 thousand years ago. All Sekirei have a Tama, their descendants included. However, unlike Sekirei who have a solid Tama, the Tama of a descendant Sekirei is weak and spread through their body and is practically useless."

"I am hearing a however here." Elizabeth stared hard at Dai.

"However," Dai smiled grimly. "It is possible to condense enough descendant Sekirei Tama's into a True Tama. Each of these Sekirei here is the result of dozens if not hundreds of descendant Sekirei Tama's being extracted and crystallized into 1 single True Tama. The origin does not survive the procedure of course."

"Hundreds…" Chiho stared at the tubes around her in horror, the realization that hundreds of people were mercilessly slaughtered by Umbrella just to create a single Sekirei grinding hard on her. Kara and I glanced at each other on the hand, both of us thinking the same thing. Haihane and Beni seemed to get it too, judging by their narrowed brow and thoughtful expression. We all knew that Sekirei blood would be weakened and dissolved by the sheer mass of humanity over the centuries and millennia. Even if we were to win this, go back in time and save our kind from the Sekirei Plan, all it would do is prolong the inevitable.

Our race was far too few to support ourselves and the whole Ashikabi business meant that we didn't even bother trying to support our kind. We merely lived on with our Ashikabi. But this new knowledge was invaluable. If it is possible to craft new Sekirei from the diluted blood of the ancient Sekirei…suddenly our race had a chance. A chance to live on and not become a mere fraction of the humankind.

Sure, the process must be horrible and cruel, but to save my race I've done worse. In fact, I should ask Dai about this later on and in greater detail. Perhaps it was possible to merely extract the descendant Tama from its host upon their death? Humans die by thousands on a daily basis just from old age and those could be used to craft tens if not hundreds of new Sekirei. Just the potential of this knowledge makes me weak at my knees.

"…Thank you." I came out of my reverie to see Dai smile brilliantly at Chiho and then shatter into red polygons, the test tube before her suddenly coming to life as lights and machinery activated in a flurry of activity.

"We need to destroy this." Elizabeth said looking around. "We- What the hell Karasuba?"

"I am sorry, I must've misheard you." Kara's eyebrows narrowed and a vicious snarl appeared on her face. "Did you just say that you wanted to kill all of these Sekirei? Our kin?"

"Not happening." Beni stood with her back facing the activated tube as she stared at Elizabeth in defiance. "I'll kill you before I let any harm come to these children."

"Eh?" Chiho looked at us in confusion. "Wait, but aren't we here to destroy this lab?"

"Missions change." I replied with a twisted smile. "We cannot do this mission anymore as it now comes in conflict with our code, our Reason of Being."

"Minaka won't let this slide you know." Elizabeth said calmly, ignoring Kara's blade beneath her throat. "I know that you want to save your race but he will not rest if he hears of these Sekirei here."

"Then he won't." Kara said simply, her blade pushing against the thin armour of Elizabeth's suit. "We won't say anything and you…"

"Wait!" Uzume shouted. "Are we really going to kill her just to make sure no one hears of this?"

"Uzume." Haihane draped her clawed hand over her busty companion. "Our goal, our destiny as the Disciplinary Squad is the salvation and security of our kind. Of all Sekirei. Do you know what having unaccounted for Sekirei allows us to do?"

"Do you understand what the technology to create more Sekirei will do for our kind?" Beni joined in. "For our future?"

"But so many people would die!" Chiho cried out, stumbling out of my grasp. "Is it really worth it?"

"Yes." Kara's simple answer seemed to put her into stupor.

"We don't have to kill them." I gently hugged my Ashikabi once more and stooped over to whisper into her ear in honeyed tones. "Humans die of old age on a daily basis; why not use those who die of old age to give birth to our new kin?"

"Hmm, that could work." Elizabeth commented on my argument, still ignoring the blade that was now digging into her throat. "Of course, we'd have to study this further, but I think this is probable."

"Our kind is very, very few." Beni said softly. "There are only 108 of us, a drop in an ocean compared to the humans. Even a small village in the middle of nowhere has more population then our kind! And here is our chance to secure the future of our kind! To save us as a race! I-we cannot let this pass, we must use it!"

"…Okay." Chiho finally said with a deep breath after thinking for a couple minutes, her emotions a jumbled mess that I couldn't decipher. "I understand. But we will not kill anyone. We will either use the old, like Rei suggested, or we will ask for volunteers or something. I will not become as bad as these Umbrella monsters!"

"Then it is decided." Uzume shrugged. "As Chiho commands, so shall it be done."

"Indeed." I glanced at the skimpily dressed Sekirei in amusement. Uzume really doesn't care about anything and everything. Her whole world is Chiho and everything she says goes, simple as that. I guess she could be considered as the Perfect Sekirei in that regard.

"Great." Elizabeth sighed. "I swear that I won't tell anyone about this. I am not particularly happy about Minaka's goals myself."

"We know." Kara put on her customary grin before sheathing her sword. I told Kara about my suspicions years ago and she herself agreed that the original makers of MBI weren't happy with the direction Minaka was steering them all.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow but before she could say anything, a loud beep startled us. We all whirled to see the fluid level quickly lower in the tube before us and the girl suspended in there was staring at us with her bright red eyes. In seconds, the liquid was gone and the tube opened with a slight hiss, the girl falling out only to be caught by Beni.

"Thank you." The girl said hesitantly, as if not sure how to talk. Her voice had a weird ethereal quality to it. "Hi everyone."

"Dai?" Chiho asked with hope in her voice.

"Yes." Dai nodded, still in Beni's arms. "Does anyone know if this weakness will pass? It's hard to stand up…"

"You just took your first step." Elizabeth reflected melancholically. "Of course it would be difficult. Every Sekirei was like this in the beginning. Well, except for Rei who was walking practically instantly."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow at the incredulous looks from all Sekirei around me. "There was no way I was getting into that wheelchair! I am not some cripple."

"Indeed," Kara smiled at me. "You aren't."

"Question." Elizabeth called out, drawing our attention. "Let's say we keep this as is. Who will watch over them? How are we going to make sure that Umbrella doesn't come again?"

"I will watch over them, my new sisters." Dai smiled at the tubes around her. "As for Umbrella coming, they can't."

"Why?" Kara looked at her with interest.

"I simulated Self-Destruct." Was the simple answer. "Currently, they believe the base to be destroyed and are dealing with the consequences."

"What consequence?" I asked, wondering just how bad this could've hurt the gigantic corporation.

"This base is equipped with a nuclear generator." Dai waved her hand and a holographic map of the facility came into being around us. She then pointed at the giant radiation symbol in the lower level of the map. "When I simulated Self-Destruction, I collapsed the upper levels of the facility and dumped radioactive waste in there to simulate the reactor having a meltdown. Umbrella is now dealing with a good portion of the city suddenly collapsing nearly a dozen meters downwards and the waters polluted by the seeping radioactive waste that is now in the sewers."

"Not only that," She said with a hint of pride. "But in order to cause more chaos and ensure that they have bigger things on their plate, I've sabotaged all other Umbrella bases, including the ones researching the Sekirei. It was easy to do because they didn't have an AI guarding them so activating Self-Destruct protocols on them was a…piece of cake?"

"Nice." Haihane ruffled the young girl's hair gently, careful not to scratch her. "Well done little sister."

"Eh?" Dai stared at Haihane with huge eyes causing Beni to grin and hug her tight. "W-what?"

"You are a Sekirei now." Uzume smiled and then willed her silks to cover the small girl in a makeshift dress. "One of us."

"You've proven your worth." Kara looked at her seriously. "I know the importance of a hacker on the team and what you did was worthy of being one of us."

"Ah," I exclaimed from a sudden though. "Before we go, we need to have an Initiation event for number 109, Dai."

"Uhm, do you even know how to do one?" Uzume stared at me incredulously. "I thought it was this very hard procedure that if you screw up, there's a good chance the Sekirei will die."

"That is true." Elizabeth stated and then sighed. "It is also true that there's a way around it. We just didn't do it because it involves some…risky factors."

"I spontaneously Initiated." Beni shrugged nonchalantly causing Uzume's eyes to bulge out in shock. "It wasn't too difficult."

"It is possible for a Tama to get initiated by a severe emotional distress." Elizabeth stated calmly. "In your case, you've been under intense emotions from almost dying and then when Rei ignored you, your rage caused your Tama to initiate. I don't think this method will be applicable here."

"If we want intense emotions we can always wing Dai." I suggested. "That'll kick start her Tama for sure."

"We've never had an uninitiated Sekirei Winged." Elizabeth frowned. "I have no idea what could happen."

"I'd rather not die." Dai said quietly, still in Beni's embrace. "Please."

"How about we have Dai copy the data from MBI?" Haihane suggested. "She seems powerful in this computer espionage business so can't we just do that?"

"If she gets caught, Minaka will have all of our heads for this." Elizabeth stated calmly before turning to the little redhead. "So please, don't get caught."


	38. Gate:Aftermath

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"You sure this'll work?" We all crowded around a hastily assembled tube, wires and tubes going in and out of haphazardly. Dai was even tinkering on it in the final minute, still setting something up, her small hands handling the equipment with practised ease. Considering we were all 'jarheads' or something like that, she didn't trust us with helping her setup the tube for her Initiation.<p>

It was actually surprising how fast Dai hacked into MBI and downloaded everything she needed. She even mentioned about a series of loopholes in the firewall that were very well trodden, as if someone walked in and out of MBI servers on a daily basis. At this point Uzume snickered and whispered something that sounded suspiciously like 'that pervert' which brought ideas…

Regardless, it took her 3 days to set everything up from scratch. She swore and grumbled a lot in those 3 days, sincerely annoyed that she had to do everything herself. Of course, the fact that she had a real body to do this with at all made her ecstatic but it took us a while to teach her the particularities of having a living body. Like eating, going to sleep, going to the washroom and etc. Teaching her about emotions was particularly fun. She emulated them back in her AI days but now she simply felt them and having several of them at the same time drove her into a cognitive stupor more than once before she figured out how to deal with them. Those 3 days flew by fairly fast actually as we all had things to do. Kara walked around the gigantic complex and hunted down the surviving Umbrella soldiers and when those ended she walked around and killed anything that moved.

Uzume spent the time either chasing after Chiho or training with me as she was determined to test out her bow in actual combat. It worked rather well actually, those spears were ridiculously difficult to parry normally due to their speed and sheer momentum so I was forced to either dodge or redirect them to the Spirit Realm. She actually revamped her entire fighting style to become a pure ranged combatant rather than the mid to close combat specialist she was before. Surprisingly, this worked extremely well for her. Using a premade bow allowed freed up her concentration to focus on her veils. What this actually meant is that fighting her in an enclosed space, like that cavern we practised in, was a nightmare. She'd use her veils to climb the walls and the ceiling and then shoot at me from a position I couldn't get to. In the city we already figured that she'd use that ability to scale buildings and walls and then shoot down on her attackers and gods help them if they can't dodge, those lances she fires are damn scary. I mean, sure they are made of silk but that didn't stop them going up to half a meter deep into solid rock.

In the meanwhile, Elizabeth decided to help out Dai and wake up a three of the Sekirei so that they'd be her helpers. She might not have thought this through completely though as having only several days wouldn't help jack shit when dealing with newborn Sekirei. She managed, with Beni's, Haihane's and Chiho's help to teach them how to talk – brokenly, but talk – and that kind of miraculous progress actually had me in awe. I mean really, I could talk on that level by first day but I had Archive who practically spoon fed me the information.

Still, what this actually meant was that now Dai had 3 curious children to look after and teach…a prospect she was horrified of to tell the truth. After seeing the amount of effort those 4 put into training the kids into talking with broken Japanese, Dai nearly had a fit after thinking about the other 94 Sekirei still in their tubes. At this point, Elizabeth calmed her down and said that there was an easy trick to dealing with this. The trick was to teach these 3 everything she knew and then have them teach the rest. And it doesn't have to be all 94 at once, just wake several up each time, teach them and only then wake the next batch.

In the evening we all sat down and played around, talked and occasionally watched news broadcast from a USA channel. It was humbling, really, to see the amount of damage 1 scared AI could do. We Sekirei had practically nothing on Dai. Just by destroying all Umbrella facilities, she wiped off several major cities off the face of US killing tens of millions. Really, who the hell advised Umbrella to build nuclear reactors to power their underground facilities? When those overloaded and blew up, not only did they leave a crater in place of the city they were parasitizing under, they left an irradiated crater which made it nigh impossible for any rescue work.

Chiho wasn't particularly happy with this but Dai's puppy eyes and general look of a scared child allowed her to come to peace with it. She did ask Dai to be more careful next time to involve as less innocents as possible if any at all. The AI turned Sekirei happily swore that next time she'll try her best to kill off only those who threaten her and no one else. Chiho looked at her hesitantly at this but then sighed and hugged the little girl.

Dai received a lot of hugs and cuddles in general. The excitable small girl became our young, smart sister very fast. Even Kara couldn't resist hugging the child. Of course, she did this only when no one was around – I didn't count – but still. Dai in turn became very attached to us as well and loved to spend her time resting in someone's lap. She also loved sitting on my shoulders and lord over everyone. Of course, she only played around but occasionally she did ask me to hold her while she did some work installing whatever tech she needed at the time. Even Elizabeth couldn't resist the charms of the AI and showed her affection quite often.

During out stay Chiho, Kara and I had a talk where we convinced Chiho that the world wasn't quite white and black unfortunately. That not all things are the same when looked through a prism of a different viewpoint. For instance, the humans working at this laboratory were all evil, from our perspective. To them however, they were just doing their job or working for the goal of betterment of mankind. We, the Disciplinary Squad, are all murderers with hundreds if not thousands of corpses in our graveyards each. Yet, why is Chiho with us? Why does she deny what we are so viciously?

It were these kinds of questions that made Chiho really think. When thinking objectively it becomes really difficult to hate. Why hate a man who is merely here, doing what he was ordered to do or what he believes is right? There is no point to hate someone over a difference of opinion even if I must kill him over that difference. I'll just do it fast and, if possible, cleanly.

Neither Kara nor I have hated anyone for a very long time. Even when I vented on Yume all I felt were only bitterness and anger, not hatred. For all of her dislike about weaklings, the root of this is Kara's frustration that they either get in her way or force her to help them when they should be strong enough to do it by themselves. Kara also kills without hate, only satisfaction of a job done or joy if the fight was good. There was just no point to hate anyone. No one was abstractly evil enough to warrant it.

What this meant for Chiho though, was that there were better things to do than hate Umbrella. She could easily spend the time plotting their demise as a simple stepping stone to protect the Sekirei as part of the Disciplinary Squad. The difference between plotting a murder in order to gain vengeance versus plotting to kill the same individual as a step to protect might seem negligible to some. To us, the Disciplinary Squad, this difference was our Purpose our Goal.

Each step we take is following a path we believe will save our race. It matters not who we kill or how many so long as it is for the betterment of our kind. Yesterday we fought against Umbrella. Today we might fight Minaka. Tomorrow will bring new enemies who seek to subjugate or threaten our kin. The work of the Disciplinary Squad will never be done.

It was hard on Chiho, the realization that she now led a group of people to constantly strive to save their kind was a heavy burden. Especially considering that currently our greatest enemy happened to be Mankind in general.

Although she grudgingly accepted that a lot of humans were going to her enemies, Chiho absolutely refused to treat all humans as such. Honestly, we didn't particularly try to push that way aside from Kara's half-hearted attempt. We all knew that, even though humanity as a whole might be our enemy, humans as individuals were generally nice, reasonable people to can be worked with in peace.

Contrary to our bleak view of the future, Chiho retained her optimism and swore that she'll guide us to a future where we won't have to fight or kill anymore. She said it was such passion and will that both Kara and I believed her, despite everything we knew up to know.

I think, in that moment, both Kara and I realized that we both found a new Light, a new Hope in our lives. Something we thought forever lost with Yume.

That night, no one could find us and the next morning Chiho showed up with a bright red face and a dreamy expression each time she looked at me or Kara. Uzume even jokingly told us 3 to stop glowing so much, we hurt her eyes. Chiho also got into stupor when Uzume, Beni and Haihane all asked when their turn will be. I think there wasn't quite a point for us to go seek a nice dark corner when our fellow Sekirei could all feel what was going on through the bond.

Beni also complained that she couldn't sleep because we kept her up through the bond for half the night. The other half the night she couldn't sleep because Haihane and Uzume, frustrated by the feelings they got from the bond, decided to take matter into their own hands…literally. Even now they sat, hugging each other, pleased grins on their faces.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, looked at our 'disgustingly happy faces' with disgruntlement and a bit of jealousy. From what we managed to pull out of the woman, guys were in no hurry to date someone who is a: the head of a Department of MBI and b: the head of the Psych Department of MBI. Apparently, her last boyfriend was Takehito and they drifted apart before he married Miya. This was over a decade ago. She had tried several times since then but nothing ever worked out.

"Have you tried asking one of the Specialists?" Kara suggested randomly, I didn't even think she was listening to Elizabeth crying about her love life. I guess her mood was so great from our last night that she decided to participate. "Those guys are pretty damn good for humans and if anyone, it's them who'd have the balls to actually court you."

Elizabeth opened her mouth, narrowed her brow in thought and then closed it. After a little while she quietly thanked Kara for the idea and spent the rest of the breakfast deep in thought, her lips moving soundlessly occasionally.

Amusingly, Dai was quite confused about the previous conversations until she decided to watch the camera feed from last night. I didn't even know she had camera's in that place I thought it was as remote as possible. Still, next we had to deal with a little girl, all hot and bothered, who was quite confused about the whole 'sexual arousal' business. Gods, what a minefield that was. On one hand, she's more than mature enough mentally, on the other hand her current body was that of an 11 year old girl. The tube may have sped her growth up over 2 times but she was still too young for this.

It would be a long time till her body is ready for this in fact. Although I'd like to ignore the fact that she muttered disappointment about how none of the Sekirei still growing were male. Yes, I definitely didn't hear that or the intentions behind it. Judging by the unamused look Elizabeth gave Dai it would seem that I wasn't alone in that regard.

I had an urge to make a 'they grow so fast!' joke in there but decided against it. It's rather funny how fast Dai finished her 'adjustment' phase. Why, she only broke half a room full of objects – an actual thing as all of the broken stuff we just disposed in one of the rooms and we might need a new one now. However, being a machine prior to becoming a Sekirei allowed Dai to systematically approach her 'oh god I break everything I touch' problem that all Sekirei have upon birth. She finished her entire 'adjustment' phase in under three hours, a new record as Elizabeth dryly said.

Considering the trouble they had adjusting the trio they awoke I can sympathize. I mean, contrary to what I said prior, it was actually by their effort that the room of broken objects got filled up. There were more than a couple times where Elizabeth would look at her armour in near worship, especially when she got mobbed by over excited children that could hug a human's body into mush without controlling their strength. They still haven't figured out completely how to control themselves, but at least they could be gentle enough not to smash things into dust by accident most of the time. It's just something that Dai will have to work on with them once we are gone.

Still, the days flew by and now we were all standing in an empty cavern as Dai finished setting up the tube in which she'll undergo her Initiation. We decided to not try inventing anything new and instead use the procedure Takehito invented nearly twenty years ago. It was tried and tested by over a hundred Sekirei after all and the only time it went wrong was when the adjuster in question screwed up. Considering Dai will be her own adjuster this time with all the tools and methods at her disposal, the chance of failure was negligible at worst.

"Alright, I am going." Dai finished tuning the equipment and turned to us only to be instantly mobbed by hugs. "Ack! I can't breathe!"

By the time she managed to convince us all to let go and that everything will be alright, nearly half an hour passed. We really didn't want anything happening to our cute little sister and Dai knew this. She smiled happily at us and promised that nothing bad will happen, she's not some amateur, she's an AI turned Sekirei. We laughed at this but let her do her thing as we all walked back to the entrance of the cavern to the observation post hastily set up. If a table and several chairs can be called that but it would do for this situation.

We watched as Dai stepped into the tube, as it filled up with that liquid that radiated soft blue light and then quickly fall unconscious. Mere minutes later, a dark red wave of energy exploded from the tube, quickly passing us all harmlessly. Just as we were about to charge forward to see if Dai was okay, the tube opened and our little sister stumbled out, glowing with a dark red hue.

"So?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as we all made our way to her in a hurry. "How did it go?"

"It is…weird." Dai looked at her hand in wonder, the red energy condensing there to for a moment. "It feels…incredible."

"Indeed." I nodded. "Now, try using it on something."

Dai nodded and then turned to the practise targets we set up just for this purpose. For several minutes she just stood there, obviously trying things but nothing worked. Finally, she sighed in frustration and swung at the targets in anger. Surprisingly, to everyone involved, a leash of dark red energy lashed out from her fist and enveloped the target before throwing it away at the wall with such force that the makeshift thing shattered.

Dai looked at her hands in surprise and then narrowed her brows before pointing her hand at the next target. Another tendril of energy flew through the air and grabbed the target before dragging it over to Dai through the air.

"I know what it is!" Dai exclaimed happily as she dropped the target and dispelled the tendril, the red glow about her fading away. "It's like a third arm! Except its energy based."

"Well, isn't that handy?" Uzume drawled with a spark of amusement in her eyes. "Now you'll have less of a reason to complain about only having 2 arms to work with."

It was a common complaint Dai had actually. She was so used to having the entire base as her body that now that she only had 4 limbs it was a lot less than what she was used to work with. Of course, she still had a great connection to the base as it was her 'secondary' body now but her consciousness was housed in her new Sekirei body and she had to adjust accordingly. Still, she said herself that she'll never return to being a simple base defence AI.

The rest of us smirked and proceeded to congratulate Dai with a successful Initiation. We all laughed when she proceeded to tip her nose up and say who we were taking her for, of course she'd succeed. We spent that evening, partying. Both celebrating her Initiation and having a farewell party as we had to leave now that she had her Tama Initiated. We stayed here long enough as is, anymore and Minaka might start looking for us and no matter what Dai said, we didn't want even a hint of what we did reach the White Clown.

Dai and her sisters, both awake and those still sleeping must remain hidden from MBI. They are our race's backup plan in case we fail or something goes wrong. Of course, if Kara or I win then all of this wouldn't matter but after Yume's death I grew quite pessimistic about us actually winning. As Yume herself said, strive for the best, prepare for the worst and chances are you'll end up somewhere in the middle.


	39. Gate:Mesh

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"…excellent work!" Minaka was in the middle of one of his rants. "Such a hit they'll never forget and it'll teach them not to mess with us!-"<p>

At this point I stopped even pretending to pay attention and instead began to play around with Beni stood slightly before me. A squeeze here and a pet there as I thought back on the hectic day.

Getting out of the completely buried lab complex was easy. We just phased to the top. It was a lot more difficult to say goodbye to Dai who actually burst into tears at the prospect that we might never come back. We tried to calm her down by boasting that we are the strongest team in the Sekirei Plan and that there was no way we could lose but Dai just cried harder as she said something about that that's the last thing characters say before everything goes horribly wrong and everyone dies. At this point we all glared at Haihane who introduced the world of manga and anime to Dai.

Still, at the end, we had to go. We all asked Dai to call us whenever she got lonely or just wanted to talk. We ourselves couldn't call as they'd have to go through MBI and we really didn't want Minaka to even suspect anything was wrong but Dai could hack through and bypass the MBI to call us directly. This somewhat calmed out affectionate little sister but it was still difficult to part with her knowing that the next time we can meet would be after Sekirei Plan was over, one way or another.

We also made her promise that she'll take care of the Sekirei race if something happens to us. We made her swear that she'll become a Pillar for the Sekirei currently sleeping peacefully in their tubes, not knowing the true chaos and horror of the world they'd be born into. She swore only after making us all promise that we'll all do everything and anything to win and get back to her in one piece. That was an easy promise, I mean, we were all doing everything we could to win and that implied that we'd be alive to do so.

After getting to the surface we made the call and were shortly picked up by a sleek yet large jet that stopped above us and landed vertically. It was a very nice jet to be honest, very fast and yet the ride was extremely smooth. Although I am not sure if that was due to the jet or the fact that the pilot was amazing.

Anyway, almost 10 hours later we, dusty and tired, stood before Minaka as he listened to our report given by Elizabeth before prattling on about the awesomeness of MBI and himself in general. He also kept sliding in 'Age of Gods' nonsense in there but I have learned long ago to tune out the madness he spews out and only listen to actual important things. No, what really interested me was what happened while we were gone.

Minaka promised to do something while we were gone and I half expected to see the city burned to the ground when I came back but, much to our collective surprise, it still stood. We did see a good portion of the North cordoned off with construction crews all over and a couple burned down buildings but nothing to the scale I expected of the White Clown.

"Rei~" Beni half moaned half growled. "S-stop it~"

Blinking, I returned from my thoughts to see a blushing Minaka – what? He can blush? – who stared at the ceiling innocently while the rest of the group either did the same or looked on in amusement – Uzume, Haihane and Kara. I found one of my hands under Beni's suit gently stroking her left breast while another was dancing across her lower stomach, dangerously close to her panties as I stooped over, practically draping myself over my much smaller student.

"And they call me a pervert!" Uzume and Haihane chorused before looking at each with a grin and slapping a high five.

"…What?" I decided to continue seeing as there was nothing to lose, Beni moaning as I could feel her nipples harden. "This is more important."

Minaka practically fell over as he choked and coughed hard, trying to breathe once more. Elizabeth sighed, her entire drooping posture saying: 'and this is the shit I had to deal with'. Uzume and Haihane both showed me thumbs up, before glancing at each other with a grin, still synchronous. Chiho squeaked and covered her face with her hands, but I could see her peek through her fingers, looking at us with a blush. Kara merely stared at Minaka, interested to see if the man dies so pathetically or if he'll recover. Thankfully, he didn't recover and proceeded to die. The Jinki never activated due to writing this off as natural causes and the Sekirei Plan was aborted, much to exuberance of everyone attending.

…I can dream right? Of course, the world was nowhere near that nice. I should know, I am the one having to deal with the garbage most of humanity tends to sweep under the rug and ignore, happy in their ignorance. Now, if only my kind would stop doing the same…

"R-Rei~" Beni tried again, her voice breaking slightly as her legs went weak when I reached the top of her panties, stroking the smooth skin around them gently. "N-No, I want Chiho f-for first time~"

"Ah!" I exclaimed, pausing briefly, Beni giving a noise of disappointment despite herself. "Of course! Let's grab Chiho too and then the three-"

"Rei." Kara called out, amusement clear in her voice.

"-Four," I changed plans in a stride. "Will go and-"

"Oh no you don't!" Uzume and Haihane chorused again. "It's our turn now!"

"…Somehow I am beginning to have doubts," Minaka said slowly as he watched the debauchery unfold. "That you spent those 3 days doing what I thought you were doing…"

"Feel my pain and know my suffering." Elizabeth gloated with great glee as she watched Minaka look away in embracement.

"Uhuh." Minaka pulled a cellphone in a flamboyant manner and called someone. "Takami, my love! What are you doing this fine evening!"

"Burn in hell Minaka." Elizabeth laughed hard as Takami hanged up and Minaka adopted the face of a kicked puppy.

I listened to their conversation with half an ear, the rest of me busy arguing with the rest of my squad about the sleeping order of tonight and who got to sleep with our bright red Ashikabi. We could tell though, from the bond, that she was actually extremely happy and flattered by our behaviour even if we caused her a great deal of embarrassment. Somewhere during the conversation I let go of Beni, who was torn between feeling happy at being released and disappointed at me stopping. It was a bit funny to see her try and suppress her arousal.

"Well, now that you are here!" Minaka tried to call us to attention. "We can carry on with Stage 3 immedia-ack!"

"Did I just hear something about us not getting our 3 days' worth of well-deserved rest?" Kara's blade tapped gently against Minaka's throat.

"Nope, no you didn't." Minaka quickly backpedaled. "But after your break you will participate in the Third Match of the 3rd Stage!"  
>"And now I must be off." He dashed away before we could say anything, the dangerous glint in Kara's eyes only speeding him up. "Bye bye!"<p>

"Damn." Kara swore as she sheathed her sword. "I should have asked for a weeklong vacation."

"I don't think he'd have agreed." I embraced Kara from behind, my hands on her slim waist. "I am surprised he agreed to 3 days so easily."

"Oh?" Kara turned in my grasp to face me, her hands on my chest. "Turning to me now? What ever happened to you, Chiho and Benitsubasa?"

"Well," I leaned over a bit, only an inch or so separating our lips now. "It's not like I really tried. It's their first time together after all."

"We should go find Takami and Akitsu." Kara breathed out as we separated from our long kiss after glancing at the main group, still arguing.

"Well, I knew you'd warm up to Akitsu eventually," I teased the woman in my arms. "But Takami too?"

I laughed at her blank unamused face.

"No, I know what you mean." I answered. "We need to catch up on what happened while we were gone. Although I didn't expect you to be so eager to do it immediately upon our arrival."

"I am interested in this 'plan' Minaka had to distract everyone that we were gone." Kara confessed, relaxing in my arms, letting me hold her up. "He also said something that interested me greatly. Something about 'Third Match of the 3rd Stage'."

"Yea, I heard that too." A frown crossed my face as I began walking towards the door, Kara still secure in my grasp. "I guess starting the 3rd Stage is one way to keep everyone busy."

"Hmm." Kara hummed; her eyes glittering with suppressed laughter as everyone who met us turned and ran, fearing for their lives. Seeing Kara being carried around by me must be hard on their mentality I thought and then discarded this as unimportant. "Surprising that the weaklings didn't try ditching Minaka and his Stage the moment we left."

"Well, you know how they are-" I broke for a minute to kiss the woman resting in my arms as we rode the elevator down. "They are afraid of our shadows, let alone us."

"Weak, pitiful creatures." Kara sighed heavily. "It's so frustrating to have to defend them when they should be strong enough to do it themselves. Are they Sekirei or not?"

"That's merely how they were raised." I reflected melancholically. "Minaka filled their poor, stupid heads with things they don't yet need, things that they don't have the strength to earn yet."

"We deserved our Ashikabi." I continued as we stepped out of the elevator. "We earned the right to be winged by Chiho, but have they earned the right to an Ashikabi?"

"…You have a point." Kara said softly. "When we go back we should allow only those who prove themselves worthy be winged. That will definitely force to train harder."

"A bit cruel that would be, don't you think?" Takami's voice startled us and we looked around to find ourselves in Takami's office, the woman smoking as she looked at us in amusement. Behind us the door closed as Akitsu walked in and sat down on Takami's lap. Both Kara and I raised an eyebrow at this.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones getting to 'know our Ashikabi better'." I grinned widely. "Eh, Akitsu?"

"I guess you could put it that way." Takami stared warily at the goddess in her lap. "The day I got cleared by the doctors, she almost sent me straight back to them due to a heart attack."

"I got tired of waiting." Akitsu said simply, hugging her Ashikabi to her generous chest. "That and I am afraid she'll go and die on me. I can't let that happen."

"I'm fine though-" Whatever excuse Takami had was silenced by Akitsu's lips as she straddled Takami, seeking as much contact as possible. We watched for a couple minutes as the white haired woman went from red, to purple to blue. Finally, Akitsu leaned back and broke the kiss, letting Takami take gulps of air.

"I'll kill you myself if you cause me to worry so much again." Akitsu's soft, gentle tone suddenly gained the frozen danger of an unstoppable blizzard as she stared into Takami's eyes. "You don't belong to yourself anymore, you are mine. Remember that."

Hmm, her tone and aura suddenly reminded me of some girl love behaviour types Haihane tried to fit us all under. It wasn't tsundere but it definitely had the dere part… All I remember is that I should keep a wary eye on Akitsu and make sure to try and fulfill all requests and orders she has for me.

"So what happened while we were gone?" I asked cheerfully as I sat down in the guest couch and pulled Kara to sit in my lap. She didn't seem to mind as she merely twisted a couple times to get into a more comfortable position and leaned into me, using me as a chair of sorts.

"Erm, yes, well…" I've never seen Takami so flustered as she slowly recovered from her Sekirei's passionate proclamation. The fact that they weren't truly bonded only made the whole thing a whole lot more interesting.

"Minaka declared open hunt on the last Unwinged Sekirei the day after you left." Akitsu gave Takami one last glare and turned to face us, still in her Ashikabi's lap. "Number 06, Homura was the last one left. After the mass mail, all Ashikabi interested flooded the area. More importantly, Hayato Mikogami of the South and Higa Izumi of the East both came. However, the one who actually winged Homura was Yukari."

"What." I stared incredulously at Takami's sour expression as Kara began to laugh softly.

"Homura has been reacting to Minato and Yukari for quite some time now." Takami took over, her expression still like she just ate a particularly sour lemon. "Minato gave a stronger reaction but he is male and Homura is straight. Yukari gave a much weaker reaction but she is a girl."

"In the end it was all left to chance." Akitsu smiled slightly. "During combat with other Sekirei, Homura got knocked off the roof and landed straight on top of Yukari, kissing her accidentally. Incidentally, Yukari is quite happy about this."

"Let me guess." I deadpanned. "Pretty guy falls from nowhere on her, right?"

Akitsu's amused smile and Takami's sigh full of suffering told me all I needed to know. Looks like Yukari got her wish now that she joined the 'cult' as she called us. The question is if she can hold onto the Sekirei she had now.

"How is Shiina taking this?" I asked, quite a few Sekirei weren't quite fine with 'sharing' their Ashikabi. Even Beni was one of these but considering she believes us all to be family and as important to her as Chiho, she doesn't actually do anything aside from an occasionally grumble and make half-hearted threats if we are in the way of getting to Chiho. I'd guess Hikari and Hibiki are a more accurate example, frying their Ashikabi whenever he so much as looks at a girl with interest let alone another Sekirei. Granted, I am sort of happy that that leech got such harsh handlers, gods know what he'd do without them keeping him on a tight leash.

"He was depressed last time I saw him." Takami's face suddenly got demonic with all of those sharp teeth appearing out of nowhere. "Until Kusano kissed him and asked him to wait till she grows up so she can marry him."

"What." Kara said bluntly as I coughed, having choked on air.

"Oh it gets better." Takami's demonic leer of evil got wider with even more sharp teeth. Oh gods, were those tendrils of pure evil leaking through her teeth? "Yukari, alarmed that someone might steal her 'bishonen', proposed to Shiina on the spot."

"…" I forgot to cough as I slowly suffocated, staring at Takami. Kara had to twist and pound me hard to get through my armour and get me to breathe again. I am rather surprised by how well the white haired woman is taking the news that her daughter just got engaged.

"And then Homura got jealous that he was being ignored and proceeded to ask for Yukari's hand in marriage." Akitsu continued with a faint smile. "Tsukiumi, not to be outdone by her rival, also proposed to Minato."

"Except she was beat to the point by Yashima who already asked me for my blessing with Minato in tow." Takami said her demonic leer gone, replaced by a gentle smile. "I also heard that they disappeared somewhere for a night and came back strangely happy."

Kara and I glanced at each other and bent over laughing, clutching at each other for support. Ah, it was hilarious stuff like that that reminded me what I fought for. It was also stuff like this that reminded me that most of my fellow kin shouldn't be trusted the job I did seeing as they couldn't even be trusted their own hearts.

"Right," Akitsu grew serious. "Happy news aside, that little stunt by Minaka caused a series of battles that resulted in 16 Sekirei terminations and nearly a hundred civilian casualties when 2 populated condos were burned to the ground, all inhabitants still inside."

Well, that turned grim quick.

"This was mostly done by a massive clash between Higa and Hayato, compounded when other Ashikabi and their Sekirei joined in." Takami also became serious, wiping her smile off her face. "Strangely enough, through Hayato's and Higa's Sekirei fought longest and most, they only lost 1 Sekirei each and that was to each other."

"We know that those 2 would be key players." Kara stated. "It shouldn't be surprising that their Sekirei are good enough to beat weaklings."

"Still," I mused in thought. "The moment we leave there is a huge wave of casualties with 16 Sekirei terminated in a single day… You think Minaka is catching onto the fact that we are stalling him by keeping as many Sekirei alive as possible?"

"He might be frustrated by our accomplishment," Akitsu shrugged. "But he doesn't know we are the cause yet."

"In related news," Takami attempted a smile. "Minaka was forced to acknowledge that he sent away the Arbiters for a couple days to answer the question of why you guys weren't there to stop the mess."

"So be ready to be mobbed by exuberant populous the moment you show up." Akitsu warned, the edges of her lips pointing upwards in a hint of a smile. "People of Shinto Teito rather dislike the contrast between living with Arbiters patrolling the city versus living without Arbiters."

"You still haven't told me how we ended up in Round 3 of the Third Stage." Kara spoke after a short pause, no doubt imagining the citizens praising her to high heavens.

"A couple days after Homura's winging, so yesterday," Akitsu began in her typical cool and measured tone. "Minaka announced that Stage 3 will be a tournament with Jinki as a prize in each round."

"We knew what the Third Stage would be for a long time." Kara said impatiently. "What happened during Round 1 and 2?"

"Well, Round 1 turned out be a farce." Takami smiled happily. "The contestants were Seo Kaoru, Sanada Nishi and Hayato Mikogami."

"Should we know who this Seo is?" Kara arched an eyebrow.

"Not really," Takami shrugged. "That guy is the Ashikabi of Hikari and Hibiki."

"Ah!" I nodded. "Now I remember who he is."

"Right." Takami glanced at me weirdly. "Anyway, Seo and Sanada had a fist fight for some random reason while their Sekirei stood and cheered. Hayato got the Jinki by default as he was the only one actually searching for it."

"…That sounds boring." Kara deadpanned.

"Yea, Minaka thought so too." Takami rolled her eyes. "So he declared the 2nd Round immediately after the first one. This one had 6 contestants but they were all single pairs. For some strange reason, although they all fought hard, only 1 Sekirei was actually terminated, everyone else got away with injuries of various winner was some guy named Ichiro Ikari and his Sekirei number 60, Mai. "

"That one I definitely know." I leaned in a bit. "Has a claymore she is very proficient with and packs a very strong hit. Very durable and has stamina to match too."

"And that's about it." Takami finished with a roll of her shoulders. "After that he said that the next match will happen whenever he feels like it. I am guessing he wants you to participate?"

"Yes." We both nodded.

"Have you talked to Chiho about it yet?" Akitsu asked us, tilting her head to the left slightly.

"Umm…" I focused on the bond and then immediately came back, feeling a hint of red creeping up my cheeks. "She's busy right now. Like, very busy. We'll let her know though, thanks for the update!"

Kara said nothing as she let herself get pulled out of the office and out of the building with a knowing smile. We both headed for the city, trying to stay in the tower right now wasn't the greatest idea right now.


	40. Gate:Plans

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Arbiters!"<p>

"The Arbiters are back!"

"Praise god, the Arbiters are here!"

Exclamations like that were quite common as Kara and I walked the evening streets of Shinto Teito, specifically the Northern Section. I am not sure how we both ended up here, but it honestly doesn't matter where we walk, we are just having a nice stroll right now, just the 2 of us. Still, as we walked, people rejoiced at the sight of our gray haori's with the Sekirei symbol. I think I even saw a few tears of relief, Akitsu really wasn't joking when she said the people of Shinto Teito really appreciated having us back. We even started going by rooftop after a while, tired of the constant exuberance our procession caused.

In the end, we sat down, side by side, our feet hanging off the edge of the roof of some large building as we looked down on a crowded intersection. Before us was the MBI Tower, with that ridiculously over complicated lights system beaming into the skies to create a Sekirei symbol. I honestly rather liked it, I think that when we win and go back, we should install something like this again.

"Sad, isn't it." Kara sighed, her voice strangely quiet. "It would seem like my entire life is devoted to protecting the weak and the pathetic. Why can't I just go and fight someone strong like I want to?"

"Someone has to do it." I hugged Kara with my right arm, bringing the strangely melancholic Sekirei to my side. "That and look at these guys, where are you going to find someone strong to fight? These humans are so pathetic it's hard to even kill them nowadays, it's like fighting a newborn child, and there is absolutely no fight to speak of."

"That still doesn't answer the question why I should protect them." Kara glanced at me with her pale brown eyes strangely dark. "Why I should bother to fight their battles."

"You know," I smiled gently looking at the cloudless sky. "I've had those thoughts too. And the conclusion I came to is this: humans are weak because they are mere children. Children who were left alone to do whatever they wanted to. Children with no guidance. Humankind is a very…malleable race Kara. It's evident if you ever see their history."

"Malleable?" Kara whispered, a spark of understanding coming to life in her eyes. "Then-"

"We can guide them, mold them into whatever we want, Kara." I gestured widely at the packed street before us, humans going onto their day to day lives. "All of them have the potential to become what you seek Kara. They can be guided to realize that potential."

"Was that your actual wish all along?" Kara glanced up at me, stopping. "To guide humanity?"

"I still wish to go back," I replied, staring into her beautiful eyes with determination. "I wish to go back and save my race from Minaka and then guide humanity to their place amongst the stars. Make them worthy of us, because as it stands, humanity is not worthy! Beneath the fragile, thin mask of civility there is a sneer full of malice and evil! It is a miracle that so many good people exist amongst them, but as a whole…"

"I see." Kara nodded, her brow narrowed in thought. "So that is your full wish. I must say…I am not against it. I would like to see this world of yours where humans aren't trash not even worthy of my blade. I will stand with you and help you make something worthy of this race."

I didn't say anything, merely leaned forward and kissed the woman before me, letting my body say it for me. The knowledge that Kara now knew everything and still wished to stay with me was incredible. It was as if someone lifted a weight off of my back that I never knew was there. We were interrupted from our kiss by an uncomfortable cough. Turning back, we were surprised to find Shiina, Homura and their Ashikabi Yukari.

I couldn't help but stare at Homura for a second. Generally, the fire Sekirei walked around in this black outfit with a spiffy cape and a mask with a nice white dress shirt underneath. All in all, he usually looked pretty badass if I may say so myself. However it might look like Yukari had other ideas on what badass might look like. To be honest, I must say she had good taste and overall it was an improvement. The mask less Homura that stood before me in an open black overcoat with dark red flames roaring upwards towards the center of the coat looked pretty damn badass. The black dress pants looked quite interesting in combination with the dark red formal shirt and the coat but honestly, the way he held himself made it all work out quite well.

"Looking good." I finally nodded, breaking the silence.

"Thanks." Homura nodded. He seemed a bit more relaxed than usual, a bit freer? It made sense I suppose, his job as the Sekirei Guardian was now over and he now had an Ashikabi. "I came here when I heard you were back in the city to say this though."

I arched an eyebrow, interested in what the man had to say. We weren't the closest people by far, in fact the only times I've only met him was during my patrols or occasionally in Izumo Inn whenever I – rarely – stopped by. Makes me wonder what he wants to say… I can't tell by looking at Shiina or Yukari, one doesn't seem to care about anything right now – judging by his vacant expression he isn't quite here – while the other is more interested in sneaking glances at both of her Sekirei whenever she thinks they aren't looking. I glanced at Kara beside me to see if she spotted anything, but if she did she wasn't helping, not with that bored expression on her face.

"Thank you for helping me." Homura finally stated, going even as far as to bow to me, causing much surprise on my end. "Thank you for guarding the birds and ensuring that they would find their True Ashikabi. Thanks to you, we were able to prevent most forced winging's."

"There is no need to thank me, Homura." I replied with a faint smile. "The Disciplinary Squad's purpose is to protect our kind after all."

"And yet you work for Minaka." Yukari intervened, a sceptical expression on her face. "If you are truly trying to protect Sekirei, why not stop this stupid game?"

"And why should we do your work for you?" Kara replied back instantly, it would seem that our talk of weaklings still hovered at the edge of her conscience. "If you wish to stop the Sekirei Plan, why aren't you acting? What's stopping you?"

"You are?" Homura replied in an equally heated voice.

"We work to save our race." I said with absolute belief in my voice, causing Yukari and Homura to fall back and listen. "We do not so much as work for Minaka as use him to defend our blind and stupid kin from the dangers far beyond your understanding. We do not stand in your way of stopping the Sekirei Plan, we merely work to protect our race, even if it means that those who seek to destroy it are other Sekirei and we must fight them."

"So if I were to walk up to MBI Tower and go after Minaka you won't stop me?" Homura asked disbelievingly.

"Of course we would." Kara rolled her eyes. "Are you deaf? Rei just told you that we will stop those who threaten our kind and it doesn't matter if they are human or Sekirei."

"How would going after Minaka threaten Sekirei?" Yukari asked with genuine confusion.

"Are you really asking us to tell you top secret information right out of the blue?" I stared at her in disbelief. "Seriously? You have number 02 Matsu, the Sekirei of Wisdom, to help you if you need her and you are here, asking us?"

"But she's Minato's Sekirei…" Yukari's excuse lowered to a mumble as she realized the flaw in her logic. "Erm, right, never mind."

"Anything else?" Kara asked, her voice getting dangerously bored as she began to survey the trio before her in an unhealthy interest. I suddenly remembered how she expressed a wish to meet the ones who fought me on the bridge and Shiina happens to be one of them.

"No, we are leaving." Homura seemed to pick up the danger signs instantly and sprinted off the roof with Yukari in his arms. Shiina followed up instantly, wary of overstaying his welcome.

"Tch." Kara leaned into me with a disappointed sigh. "And there goes my possible entertainment for the night. Pathetic."

"Well," I paused for a second, feeling my bond before nodding with satisfaction. "We can go back now and I'll see if I can't entertain you in that wonderfully soft bed of yours."

"Mmm," Kara smiled as she turned her head to look at me. "That does sound like a good way to fix this evening."

"Isn't it?" I laughed softly as I closed the distance between us and kissed my lover passionately.

* * *

><p>"So I will have to lead you to battle against other Sekirei in 2 days?" Chiho said softly, summarizing what we told her over the breakfast as we all sat at the bar table in the main room of our floor.<p>

When we came in yesterday, the floor was quiet and I could sense Chiho behind the door of her room, her symbol of a White Sun surrounded by Darkness emblazoned on it. The Sun had 5 rays stretching out of it in a star pattern, piercing the darkness. A white milky ray, a blood red ray, a pale blue ray, a faded gray ray and a dark red ray closing up the configuration. All in all, I rather liked it, it fit Chiho, who was the Light of our lives quite well.

Amusingly enough, her room had the largest bed by far; I swear that thing is more of a field then a bed. Apparently it was put to a test yesterday thanks to Chiho, Uzume, Haihane and Beni. From what I understood, Beni and Chiho went in first but halfway through the process, Uzume and Haihane couldn't handle the feelings leaking through their bonds anymore and joined in. My, that must've been a sight to see.

Unsurprisingly, Beni and Chiho turned quite red whenever they met the eyes of any other participants of last night's marathon. And, quite unsurprisingly as well, Uzume and Haihane practically glowed with happiness and were more often than not discussing what happened last night in great detail. I even heard them deciding whether they should edit Haihane's list before ticking it off or should they do everything listed on it first and then edit it.

Thankfully, at this point Kara intervened and said that if they fuck Chiho to death she'll slice them to tiny pieces, slowly, making sure that they stayed alive for as long as possible in the process. She even had her aura gather up around her in giving her the likeness of a hooded, humanoid crow with blades that continuously dripped blood instead of feathers. Those were rather sharp, nasty and evil looking blades truth be told and even I had trouble watching her test run her version of Miya's aura. After my comment that it lacked the Miasma of Absolute Evil and Horror that Miya had, everyone stared at me in disbelief while Kara merely nodded and said she'll add that feature in next time. At this point Uzume fainted and Haihane had to catch her before she hit the floor.

After waking up, Uzume accused me of having the biggest titanium balls of all time. At which point I grew rather confused and said I had no such thing, why would I need them? Even after Uzume puzzling explanation that it was a crude allegory of a man's bravery I was still confused. I am a woman, no? After making sure to clear this particular part of information up with a grinning Kara I turned to state this to Uzume who merely facepalmed and told me to forget it.

Regardless, ignoring that little part, Kara and I decided to fill in our comrades on the upcoming match and how we were to fight in it to get a Jinki. At this point in time, we didn't know where we were going to fight or what the rules were but…

"We will not terminate anyone." Chiho stated this with such strength that it bordered finality. "We will knock them unconscious and then take the Jinki. There is no need to fight them to death, I will not permit it."

"Not sure if that will be possible." We all turned to see a tired Takami walk in, practically carried in by Akitsu who supported the older woman with great care. "I just had a chance glance at his planning chart he left open in his office by accident. I didn't get to do more than glance at it before he came back running and closed it. But judging by the words like '3-way Battle Royale" in the title I think you can expect the worst."

"It would seem that the last man," Akitsu guided her Ashikabi into a chair gently. "Or in this case Ashikabi, will get the Jinki."

"Oh dear." I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "And he wants us to participate in that? How…forgetful of him."

"Eh?" Chiho looked at me in surprise at my choice of words. Beside me, Haihane began to snicker evilly as Beni gave a smile that spoke of great suffering to the subjects of her ire.

"We are here to kill humans." Kara said bluntly. "Not Sekirei. The Disciplinary Squad was created to Discipline humans, not Sekirei."

"I am not sure how that will help you when Minaka orders you to participate." Takami drank a glass of something clearly alcoholic. Great, she's stealing our booze, the nerve of that woman!

"Well, we'll merely have to do something that will ensure he will think 3 times next time before sending us in." Beni laughed darkly, her hands enveloped in a dark red aura.

"It's simple really." Haihane took one of her claws she put by her chair and began to stroke it lovingly. "From what Karasuba and Rei told us, the previous 2 matches were on either MBI island or in a remote location of this city. We'll participate, but the collateral damage will be so great that Minaka will run out of locations to host his little 'tournaments' in very fast."

"We can do that?" Uzume said dubiously. "I mean, sure we are strong and what not but can we cause so much damage that that man will stop having us in the fights?"

"We have the Siege Sekirei right here." I leaned over and pet my students on the head inciting a blush. "I am sure her Norito, whatever it is, will live up to her title. Actually, who here got large Area-of-Effect Noritos? Cause mine, amusingly enough, is single target."

"Oh finally, you got an ability that you need to aim with for once." Haihane grumbled darkly, a flinch passing through her features as she remembered some of my abilities.

"Whatever." I huffed, it's not my fault…wait, no it is, I deliberately researched and practised in such a way that'd make all abilities I learned to be Area of Effect types.

"Well, mine definitely lives up to my name." Beni smiled brilliantly. "In fact, I am hesitant to use it in a city…maybe you'll see why when we do this."

"Perhaps." Kara said offhandedly. "Mine is a ranged Area of Effect that should demolish everything before me. We should try these out somewhere to know exactly what they do."

"That's a good idea…" Uzume muttered. "Mine is erm…a creature? A construct? I don't know how to explain it…I should just show it to you guys."

"Theoretically…" Haihane scratched her head. "Mine lets me fly…theoretically. It's hard to tell, I thought the knowledge would be more clear than do this and this might happen."

"Um, Miss Sahashi," Chiho turned to Takami. "Where can we go and see what the Norito's of my Sekirei really are?"

"I'd suggest flying to Kamikura Island." Surprisingly, Akitsu answered in Takami's place as the woman in question was drinking at the time. "It's barren rock and stone, there's nothing to damage there…so long as you aim the other way from the ship."

"I am also coming with you." Akitsu continued in a tone that suffered no alternatives. "After I put Takami to sleep, I will escort you to Kamikura and ensure you don't go overboard when using the Ultimate ability of Sekirei."

"Going overboard?" Chiho made a cute confused expression. "What do you mean."

"I'll explain while we fly." Akitsu replied before carefully picking up Takami who fell asleep with glass in her hand. "I'll be back soon."

"Uhm, I am sorry I forgot to ask," Chiho turned to us with a nervous expression. "But do you guys have anything to do today? I am sorry, I should've asked before-"

"It's nothing we can't shelf till later." I interrupted after a brief glance at Kara. "We should patrol the city, but considering everyone is busy training up for the next Round I think we can spare a day doing far more important things…"

"Like hanging out with our Ashikabi." Uzume somehow snuck over and embraced Chiho from behind, pushing her Ashikabi's head between her big breasts. "What could possibly be better?"

"Sometimes we have to do what we have to," Beni said somberly. "Not what we want to…"

"Well yes, but," Uzume hugged Chiho tighter, the poor girl squeaking cutely. "Right now we got nothing to do right? And what better things are there then playing around with our beloved Ashikabi in those periods?"

"You got a point there." I smirked before getting out of my chair and making my way over to Kara and draping myself over her. "I do wonder what could possibly be better. Any ideas, Kara?"

Kara simply twisted around on her chair and kissed me passionately, her half closed eyes glinting with amusement. As she and I embraced, holding each other tighter against one another, I could feel Chiho's embarrassment, lust and, strangely, happiness spike and leak through the bond. I could feel Kara's body tense slightly against mine as she must've felt the same. It was odd how such seeing her 2 Sekirei kiss made Chiho happy of all things, I'd have thought she'd want in on the action, and she does, but to a lesser extent.

"Mmm, if we want to go anywhere today I suggest we do it now." Kara mused as we broke apart. "Or else you are risking going without us."

"I must say your idea is growing more enticing by the second." I said seductively as I neared Kara's face, breathing heavily.

"Looks like we aren't going anywhere today." Haihane made her way to Chiho who was still entrapped by Uzume and traced her hand over Chiho's lips gently. "Want to see this list of ours?"

Honestly, the only thing that stopped the whole situation from escalating into a massive orgy was Akitsu's return. That being said, I believe without doubt, that had Kara let her join in, we really wouldn't be going anywhere today…


	41. Gate:Epicenter

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Y-you said you were going to explain Noritos to us?" Chiho asked Akitsu while watching Uzume with a wary eye. To prevent any future distractions, Chiho sat between me and Kara on one side with Uzume and Haihane separated by Beni and Akitsu on the other side of this helicopter. Of course, this didn't really stop Haihane or Uzume from playing a game with Chiho where the one who makes her blush the most wins. Thankfully, they didn't do anything drastic like strip while we were in mid-air but this might be only because when Kara saw Uzume try to pull a fast one with her silk control she scared the living daylights out of everyone else by materializing that raven thing again.<p>

Honestly, I found the thing more impressive than scary. But this could just be because I was so used to Kara's bloodlust and Killing Intent from our years of sparring. Regardless, the fact that it only appeared recently, after Kara's winging, had me thinking. Although Kara has attempted to do this trick before – she was rather impressed with the ability to make anyone shit their pants just by looking at them that Miya had – she could never pull anything but a hazy black aura around herself. To see the abomination so sharply, even if it was still immaterial thankfully, was rather intriguing.

If Kara got such a power boost from Chiho, than how come I wasn't feeling anything? Oh sure, when Chiho got mad back at the lab and ordered us to kill everyone I could feel power flow to me from her but… Honestly, the effects were rather lackluster compared to the boost Kara got. That being said, I haven't actually noticed Beni or Haihane show anything beyond their usual strength either. Was Kara the only one who got such a considerable power up? And if so, why?

That being said, perhaps their boost was the unlocking of their Norito. If it was exceptionally powerful, I could see why their normal form wouldn't get anything. But that wasn't the case with me though. My Norito… I don't know. Much like every other ability I got I couldn't figure out the point of it at first. I still don't know what it truly does and without experimentation I never will, but… That's the problem. My Norito, if I understood what it does correctly, is so powerful that using it on someone just for mere testing is like giving some random person a full sized statue of them in diamond, just because you felt like it.

Still, to think that my Norito was actually a single target-

"Yes, are you ready?" Akitsu interrupted my chain of thought with her soft voice as she somehow managed to command attention and get her words across over the whistle of the wind without raising her voice.

"Yes." Chiho nodded, her full attention on Akitsu.

"Very well," Akitsu closed her autumn eyes for a second before opening them. "Norito, an ultimate ability ingrained in all Sekirei. The pinnacle of their power, some may say."

"Tch, we know all of this…" Beni grumbled, staring at Haihane who sat beside her suspiciously.

"A Norito is only possible to use with a stabilizing element present," Akitsu continued, ignoring Beni. "Such as an Ashikabi. Although it is theoretically possible to use a Norito without an Ashikabi, it is not possible to use it without wings."

"There's a difference?" Kara leaned forward slightly, intrigued.

"Yes." Akitsu turned to face her. "Once a bond is present, nothing short of death of one of the members is enough to remove it. Just its presence is enough to unlock the ability to even use a Norito. That being said,after the use of a Norito without an Ashikabi to stabilize and guide the process, the chances of survival of that Sekirei are 0."

"So, we can't use a Norito without an Ashikabi?" I asked. "Or we can but we'll die afterwards?"

"A Sekirei can use a Norito so long as she is winged." Akitsu elaborated. "However, the weaker – less trained - her Tama is, the greater the chance that it will shatter upon use without a stabilizer that the Ashikabi becomes."

"So, I could use a Norito whenever I feel like it if I train hard enough?" Haihane asked, an odd light in her eyes. Oh right, she seeks power and the ability to use a Norito without an Ashikabi present will definitely set her high up in power ratings.

"With sufficient training, yes." Akitsu nodded. "However, by my and Takami's approximations the Sekirei in question will have to be a Pillar level in strength at the very least. Any less than that and even if their Tama survives, they will deactivate simply from the internal damage they will suffer from using the Norito without a stabilizer. In fact, even a Pillar level Sekirei would have troubles afterwards."

"So not for another hundred years Haihane." Kara smirked at her student's pout. She and I exchanged a glance at this particular bit of information. If what Akitsu said was true, Miya could use a Norito even without an Ashikabi… Although, on a second thought, considering she wasn't winged I would hope that her Norito isnt even accessible to her. Still, we all know Takehito is a genius and if anyone, it would be him to figure out a way for his wife to unleash her ultimate ability…

"So don't use our Norito whenever Chiho isn't around, got it." Uzume nodded. "Anything else?"

"There are a few things." Akitsu nodded. "By the way, just so you know, all of this information is highly classified and Minaka was rather adamant that no one knows of it."

"We care?" I and Kara chorused before looking at each other with a grin.

"I didn't think so." The stoic ice Sekirei merely closed her eyes briefly in recognition. "First of all, and this is extremely important considering you wish to practise your Noritos."

"Chiho." She said sternly, her gaze uncharacteristically sharp as she turned to our Ashikabi who twitched at the suddenness. "An Ashikabi cannot act as a stabilizer for more than 1 Norito per time. If you try to activate 2 Noritos at the same time, your brain wont handle it and you'll die of a massive brain hemorrhage. Meaning all the blood vessels in your brain will explode."

"Well now," Kara glanced at Chiho who turned pale at Akitsu's warning. "This is an extremely important piece of information. Considering how many Ashikabi have more than 1 Sekirei it makes me wonder why Minaka would classify this."

"Don't know." Our teacher for the day shrugged. "Regardless, if you wish to use more than 1 Norito then I'd suggest that you act as a stabilizer for those whose Norito is a quick event. From what I heard, I'd suggest Uzume to be the last one to use Norito as hers doesn't seem like something that lasts for a short time."

"Aww." Uzume pouted even as Chiho nodded intently. "And here I was hoping to show off first."

"I see…" Chiho nodded. "So…probably Benitsubasa first, then Kara, then Haihane, then Rei and finally Uzume?"

"No." I shook my head as everyone turned to me. "I can't use my Norito."

"Why?" Beni leaned over with great interest.

"Because it literally requires a target." I sighed. "From what I understand, I cannot use it on empty space."

"Right," Haihane nodded. "And we don't have anyone here who can be used as target practise."

"Haihane!" Chiho cried out in disapproval.

"What?" The Blue Sekirei turned to her Ashikabi. "I for one don't want to get hit by Rei's Norito. Knowing her, something extremely terrible will happen to me."

"Enough." Kara said quietly before looking at me. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." I nodded resolutely. "I'll test it out on someone else later."

"Very well." Kara nodded. "Was there anything else you wished to say Akitsu? We are just about at the island."

"Yes, one final thing." The ice Sekirei surveyed us all before continuing. "A Sekirei can use a Norito once every 28 hours and 49 minutes without excessive harm. Although we haven't tested this out, for obvious reasons, we believe that using a Norito twice in a relatively fast succession, maybe up to 8 hours, will shatter the Tama. The closer the second Norito is to the limit, the less internal damage the Sekirei will suffer. Also, it stands to say that, according to our simulations, we believe that using a Norito before it's so called 'cooldown time' is over compounds the next 'cooldown time'."

"…And what is that supposed to mean?" Beni narrowed her brows in thought, trying to figure out what Akitsu was trying to say. "What do you mean compounds?"

"If you were use a Norito again," Akitsu patiently explained. "In let's say 24 hours, that is 4 hours and 49 minutes beforehand, then the next time you can safely use it again would be in 33 hours, 38 minutes."

"Right, so stopwatches would be a thing." Uzume grinned. "This calls for shopping! Chiho, our stopwatches should totally match."

"B-but why would I need one?" Chiho asked, stuttering in confusion as Uzume derailed her train of thought.

"Because!" Our resident troll said with a gigantic grin. "It would be totally awesome!"

"Landing in 3 minutes!" The pilot's voice rang out in the cabin.

"Anything else?" Kara asked Akitsu who shook her head.

"Um, how do you activate a Norito?" Chiho asked shyly. "Sorry I forgot to ask."

"It's simple." Akitsu replied calmly. "The Sekirei and the Ashikabi kiss, this sets the bond between them into active state. Then, the Sekirei can use her Norito whenever she wants to so long as she is within a reasonable range of her Ashikabi and it hasn't been too long."

"Specifics, please." I asked.

"It varies depending on many factors such as Ashikabi and Sekirei compatibility, strength of the Sekirei, number of Sekirei winged by Ashikabi amongst other things." Akitsu listed off. "Roughly however, Chiho should be within 10 or so kilometers of the Sekirei trying to use her Norito and the time limit should be about an hour."

"Thats...plenty." Haihane mused out loud.

"Hmm, well, if thats all," Kara cupped her chin in thought, no doubt thinking of possibilities of kissing our Ashikabi and then going off to do her business. "Let's get ready, we are about to land."

* * *

><p>"Somehow I should've expected this." I said with my face in the palm of my hand.<p>

"…I think we may have underestimated our students." Kara sighed as she too had her fingers supporting her forehead as if her head suddenly weighted a lot more than it should have.

We stood on an open stone Plato, walls of sharp stone peaks surrounding the fairly small thing. It was only about the size of a football court…I think, it's a bit hard to tell as I've only visited a football court once and considering I had a target to assassinate I didn't get much of a chance to look around. I've heard it was a good game…until I showed up.

Regardless, unlike the chopper that flew off the moment we landed, Akitsu stayed with us and watched intently. Although I am not sure what there is to watch, currently Beni is kissing the living daylights out of our Ashikabi and judging by the feelings we are getting from our bond, Chiho is by far not averse to this. Still, if this is what it comes down to why didn't we just stay in our rooms? They are far more comfortable than these hard rocks.

"Benitsubasa." Kara finally had enough and looked at my student with ill intent leaking off her in waves. It was funny how a single word from our captain was enough for Beni to leap away clumsily from Chiho, her face going from flushed red to pastry white in the space of a second. Now, that can't be good for her circulatory system…

"Gate:Swap." I pulled us all into the other realm after Chiho got in range. There was no point in putting ourselves into harms way. After all, being near the ultimate ability of a Siege Sekirei is…suicidal at worst, stupidity worthy of Darwin's Award at best.

"Right, going." Beni took a deep breath and squared her shoulders after seeing us all safe.

"By the Will of my Ashikabi," She began chanting an aria, her power suddenly erupting from her in a pillar of dark red energy that fed straight into her back in a loop. "Behold her Final Mercy!"

Beni stomped hard, all of her energy suddenly vanishing as the ground around her began to glow brilliant red. However, for a couple seconds nothing happened, Beni merely stood there and the ground glowed and that was it. Or it was until Beni opened her mouth again.

"Epicenter."

"I think this may have been a bad idea." Akitsu said calmly as the entire island began to shake. "I didn't think she'd be powerful enough to cause an earthquake."

Beni however wasn't done, even as the shaking increased at a rapid rate, she stomped again, her power briefly enveloping her for a split moment.

"Shatter!" She called out over the din and then all hell broke loose. The whole Plato and the surrounding rock peaks suddenly had a myriad of cracks shinning with red light running through them. After a split second, they all pulsed and suddenly the whole area was filled with nothing but dust and pulverised rocks. It made it impossible to see in fact. On the positive side, the ground stopped shaking and the earthquake halted.

What a fascinating ability I thought as we all watched the dust slowly settle, the sun barely making it through. At first I thought it was merely an earthquake but she somehow turned it into this and completely obliterated the area! I could safely say, I think, that there isn't a single stone left intact after her ability. I wonder what she did that somehow caused so much damage. She uses shockwaves after all so her causing the earthquake should be the pinnacle of her ability…Or wait, she can stack her shockwaves and then use them at different frequencies to pulverize whatever is caught in her attack. Perhaps this is one of these? But then it doesn't make sense, why not merely send it along the surface? I must be missing something here.

Regardless, the ability was exactly something I'd expect from Beni. Extremely slow but overwhelmingly powerful. Something that's difficult to use in a duel but is damn near unparalleled for destroying structures and fortifications. Overall, her Norito took about 10 seconds to execute but if anyone was stupid enough to still be standing in the area of her Ultimate ability I doubt there'd be even a paste left of them.

"You guys okay?" Beni called out with a cough. "I can't see anything, there's so much dust."

"We are fine." I replied for all of us. "We should be out in about a minute."

"Oh great." Haihane grumbled. "I'll get dust in all of the wrong places now thanks to that barbarian.

"Oi!" Beni's called out. "I heard that!"

"And I don't care!" Haihane yelled back and took a deep breath only to choke as my ability chose that exact moment to transfer us back. "G-ghod d-dhamn it."

"Tch." Kara drew her sword slowly and then slashed around us, the air blasted back by the strength of her swing. "Better."

"…"

"What?" She raised an eyebrow at our looks of awe. Even Beni, who get hit by the majority of the dust chose to ignore that to look at the woman who just blasted aside all of the dust near us like some anime hero. "My turn."

"Oh…good." Beni let her tension drain from her body and swayed, her eyes half closed. I dashed over and picked her up just before she fell. Tired, the smaller girl in my arms gave me a thankful smile and immediately fell asleep. Hmm, it would seem as if using a Norito has consumed all of her energy, I wonder if we'll have the same problems.


	42. Gate:Norito

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>As I walked back to the group, I took my time to survey our new surroundings. Well, we were still on a Plato but now it seems like the surrounding rock cliffs have moved away slightly. Or rather, the ones near us were pulverized into…<p>

I knelt down and grabbed a handful of the ground while clutching Beni to my chest.

"Sand?" I let the black particles fall from my hand. Yea, reminder to self, never get caught by Beni's Ultimate. She turned the entire Plato into sand and dust, there wasn't a single intact rock anywhere within the rather large radius. Interesting to see the sand formed was black though, I don't know the actual difference but isn't normal sand generally golden or white in color? Regardless, I walked over to the group where the smiling Kara wasted no time in picking up our smaller Ashikabi and silencing the squeaking girl with a passionate, long kiss.

"Khmm." I turned to look skyward innocently, ignoring Kara's less than amused glance as she stopped trying to suffocate our extremely red Ashikabi whose eyes grew quite misty. Ignoring the feelings I got from our bond I instead focused on Kara who walked a bit forward and glanced back at me. Nodding from the silent command, I took us all back into the Spirit Realm as we watched Kara from a safe place.

"By the Order of my Ashikabi," Kara chanted, drawing her sword. All around her, black miasma poured out of her and gave her an appearance of a giant humanoid crow. In fact, it was practically the same as her variant of Miya's scare tactic. Except this one was very much material as it formed a solid shroud of utter evil and horror around Kara, its wings of hundreds black swords dripping blood and pitch black miasma. Looks like she took my words to heart and improved her…Norito. Seriously, I knew Kara was ridiculously strong but to be able to project a shadow of her Norito without any trouble was insanity. Also, somehow I think that Miya uses another tactic to bring out her masks of terror upon those she dislikes…

"All who stand in the way of her sword," Kara continued, the form around her rapidly turning corporeal, giving Kara the look of a humanoid crow with wings of swords. Kara raised her sword above her head, her wings stretching to the sky in their gigantic glory. They must've been at least two dozen meters in wingspan and considering each feather is an evil, cursed sword…

"Die." With that simple command, Kara slashed down and suddenly, her wings pulsed and were gone leaving a field of swords before Kara, shot at such speeds that all I saw was a faint blur. I don't think I'd be able to dodge something like a field of swords flying at a speed faster than I can see. Judging by the looks of absolute awe around me neither did they. The whole field of pulverised stone created by Beni was now covered with black swords that seemed to disintegrate the ground around them with black miasma. It was interesting how Kara's Ultimate Ability was a ranged attack that covered everything in front of her when she has extreme struggles with any ranged normal abilities.

"Field of Raven God." Kara sheathed her sword and in that moment, all of the black swords pulsed and shattered, each one turning into a shrapnel grenade that filled the field with an uncountable amount of black shards. I have no doubt that each one was as deadly as the swords it came from.

"Well, that's obviously an Anti-Army type." Haihane muttered as I rolled my eyes, of course Haihane would liken it to that anime of hers she's obsessed about. Really, who the hell names their anime as a bunch of nonsensical words?

Unlike Beni, Kara merely sagged a bit and that was it. She just used an Ultimate Ability that turned the Plato before her into Swiss cheese of craters and she was only a bit tired. Not for the first nor last time, I thought just how close Kara is to Miya in power levels. As it stands, I am not sure anymore if Kara's conviction that Miya would obliterate her still holds. Unlike Kara who has trained for years and decades with hard work, constantly evolving her power, from what I know from Takehito, Miya only occasionally trains to keep her power from completely rusting.

That being said, if Miya truly does have a Norito then just her status as a Pillar alone might be enough to wipe the floor with Kara if they fight.

"My turn!" Haihane turned to Chiho the instant the barrier fell and we were swapped back into the Living Realm. Catching the girl offguard, Haihane not only kissed all sense out of her but also used the moment to feel up her Ashikabi, pulling back only when she caught mine and Kara's unamused glares.

"Huh…" Haihane paused on the edge as Kara passed her to walk to us. She seemed to be busy feeling something deep in her. "…That sucks."

As we all turned to Haihane she turned back to Kara.

"Apparently my Norito is a simple self-enhancement so can we do a spar?" Well, that was obviously a right thing to say judging by the size of the grin on Kara's face. I sighed thinking about if I should swap us over but then decided against it. I just don't see Haihane using anything that is of any real Area of Effect, she just wasn't trained that way. I wonder if Haihane, empowered by her Norito, will be able to fight a tired Kara evenly. We'll see I guess but…

"With my Ashikabi's Fury," Haihane recited her aria, a powerful wind enveloping her and causing Chiho to giggle as Haihane's gray hair grew quite windswept. "I am unleashed upon her enemies. Wind Wraith!"

The hurricane suddenly seized and disappeared and Haihane was left alone. Although it could be clearly seen that she's under effects of something as her hair gently floated about her randomly and she was…levitating. I had to blink and look again but no, Haihane was actually levitating, her feet were not touching the ground. As well, Haihane began difficult to look at as if there was a bubble of something around her that caused her features to be quite hazy at times and then crystal clear the next moment.

"Here I go!" Haihane called out before she dashed at Kara with such speed that I had great trouble following her movement. Strangely enough, she wasn't moving her legs, she simply moved through the air like friction and air resistance didn't exist. She wasn't quite moving fast enough to match me or Kara yet but as we watched it seemed like she got the hang of her abilities and limitations as the speed of the fight began to rapidly increase. Kara even gained a satisfied smile as she stood her ground, forcing Haihane to dash about her in hopes of penetrating her defences.

Alas for poor Haihane, neither her speed nor her increased mobility helped much against Kara's sheer skill and overwhelming combat experience. Having fought against another person who uses dual melee weapons – cough, looks away – for years, Kara could simply predict where and when Haihane would strike. Even as Haihane flew about her with ever increasing speed like a whirlwind – to the point where I couldn't even see her anymore, only a blur – Kara not only parried every single strike but she also managed to strike out at her student, keeping her back.

Suddenly, Haihane broke free and floated to hang a dozen meters above Kara, well inside her jump and Distant Blade ranges. Before we had a chance to ask what she was thinking, a barrier of wind blades formed around the Blue Sekirei who dashed at Kara with insane speeds. Thankfully, considering that she didn't have enough distance to pick up enough speed, Kara dodged with ease. However, we all looked with wide eyes as Haihane slammed into the ground and disappeared in a giant tunnel only to burst out maybe 10 meters away in spray of sand a split second later, her bladed barrier still around her. This time, Kara didn't bother to dodge and simply swatted Haihane away with her blade, that black miasma covering her form again for a brief moment.

"Pretty good." Kara admitted as Haihane climbed out of another hole, spitting out the black sand that got into her mouth. "It is good to see that you took my warning that you need to learn to fly seriously. However, until you practise enough to control your Norito finely, you are to stop sparring with Rei though. I don't want someone as promising as you to get cut in half by Rei's Gates by accident because you don't know how to use your Norito yet."

Haihane only had the strength to nod before she keeled over. Kara, with a satisfied smile, walked over and grabbed her student before slugging her disciple over her shoulder.

"Thank gods I am your student." Beni shuddered as she looked at Kara approaching, still safe within my encircled arms. I glanced downwards in surprise. It would seem that she woke up some time ago but because I was so busy looking at Haihane's Norito I didn't notice. Although, now that I think about it, thanks to the fact that we didn't have to Swap over to the other side, maybe she was awake to witness Kara's Norito too. Because I didn't have to draw my sword to Swap us, I didn't check if Beni was awake or not.

Regardless, it was now Uzume's turn. Turning to her, I raised an eyebrow but got a shake of the head in return. Hmm, it seems like Uzume thinks that we will be fine without going to Spiritual Realm.

"Chiho, baby," Uzume called softly to attract the attention of her Ashikabi who was fussing over Haihane, worried about her Sekirei. The moment she turned, Uzume kissed her, but unlike prior kisses which were all full of passion and lust, this one was a chaste yet extremely loving one into which Uzume poured all of her gentleness into. "I am going."

"Alright." Chiho breathed out, looking at her first Sekirei with eyes full of love.

"Enshroud the world," Uzume said the moment she stood a good distance away from us, in the middle of one of the larger craters that now littered the grounds. "The Will of my Ashikabi."

We watched with open mouths as a gigantic cocoon burst into being around her and grew to the size of a ten story building in a matter of seconds. By the 6th second, the thing cracked open and revealed a gigantic spider made of silk in place of Uzume. In fact, we couldn't see her anywhere, just the monstrosity that she spawned into being. The spider shook itself slightly, all stray strands of the cocoon merging with it.

"Woah." Haihane woke up and now stared at the condo building sized spider that towered over us. "I see I missed something important."

"Only Uzume's Norito." Beni rolled her eyes even as she stared warily at the arachnid before her. The arachnid in question was currently surveying its limbs and body as if it saw it for the first time. Which, if Uzume truly became the thing as I suspect, it very well might. And then the thing moved and we all felt our jaws drop once more. Even Akitsu, who was merely watching everything up until now in silence muttered something that strangely sounded like 'impossible'.

I wouldn't blame her, honestly, seeing something that gigantic move so fast and smooth was insane. She may not have been as fast as Haihane and I bet Kara and I could be faster, but who expects a multistory building sized spider to move fast enough for a regular human to see a blur? In a flash of white, the gargantuan spider was now towering over the peaks still left intact. They were few and much further away than the original ones but considering the entirety of the Northern section of Kamikura Island was nothing but rock peaks I don't think we'll run out any time soon.

Or we might, I reflected as we all watched Uzume smash and pulverize the cliffs and sharp peaks without any effort whatsoever. She merely swiped at them with her gigantic frontal legs and they were just gone, ripped out and shattered to rubble. I think, just by watching her play around and smash half the island, we all felt a bit underpowered in comparison. Granted, I think Beni could rip it to shreds with her Norito, but I somehow doubt the gigantic spider that could move a kilometer in a couple of quick leaps will stay the 10 seconds required for Beni's Norito to activate.

Kara wouldn't have trouble ripping through it even in her normal state but I honestly should stop comparing people to Kara. It was just not fair in any way. I'd probably destroy it too but only thanks to my abilities and even then it would certainly be a very interesting fight, especially if that thing can regenerate. Haihane's speed could easily overwhelm it but I bet Uzume has a few tricks up her sleeve too in that form of hers.

Like having her open her mouth and suddenly a barrage of silk lances lashed out at supersonic speeds. We all watched in silent amazement as she shredded a small mountain with that particular feature. As we watched the spider rampage across half the island, performing acrobatics and leaps as she jumped nearly 100 meters into the air only to land and cause the entire island to shake, the problem came from the one place we least expected it. As Chiho suddenly coughed and collapsed, we all turned to her in worry, noticing how hot she was and the sweat that soaked her clothes. She also had a bit of blood dribbling from her nose. She was literally burning up and we didn't know why…wait…

"Uzume!" I yelled before dashing over to the spider that slowed down and began looking around. "Uzume! Cancel that form! Chiho can't hold on much longer!"

The spider paused for a brief instant and then suddenly exploded, silk strands going literally everywhere, making it seem like it was snowing. As I looked in awe at the spectacle, a small form landed near me and dashed to grab me by my shoulders. Looking down I saw a breathless Uzume who stared at me with distressed eyes.

"What's wrong with Chiho?" She asked desperately.

"Calm down, its fine now." I smiled at the Sekirei in understanding. For Uzume, whose life is literally Chiho, anything that is wrong with her Ashikabi is directly wrong for Uzume as well. "Remember how Akitsu said that Chiho is our stabilizer? We just used too many Noritos in a short period of time."

The reason why I was so calm was that I was currently focusing on my bond, feeling Chiho's condition through it. The feeling of stressed pain that we all managed to somehow overlook as we watched Uzume practically evaporated once Uzume transformed back and I think Chiho will be coming back to us any moment now.

"Uzume!" Chiho's tired voice called out and we hurried back to the girl who lay on Akitsu's knees, the icy Sekirei's cool hands on her forehead.

"You were awesome!" Chiho smiled as she laid there, her Sekirei around her.

"Thank you." Uzume fell to her knees and took her Ashikabi's hand. "A-are you okay?"

"She's merely tired." Akitsu replied instead. "She had to act as a stabilizer for a very long time and for several Noritos. Although yours stressed her more than any others, it was a given considering yours lasted far longer."

"T-then it was me-" Uzume paled before Chiho raised her other hand and reached over to silence her Sekirei.

"Its fine, Uzume." Chiho smiled brilliantly. "This is how I can be useful to you all. If I have to suffer a little fever for it then it doesn't matter to me, I'll do it regardless."

"Aside from its effects on Chiho," Kara mused as she stood over Chiho on her left. "Your Norito is definitely something that is extremely useful and powerful."

"B-but Chiho-!"

"Silence." Kara looked at Uzume coldly. "If you dare to disrespect your Ashikabi's will then you will make sure to destroy your targets quickly and efficiently to reduce the strain Chiho will undergo to stabilize your Norito. Is that understood?"

"Y-yes." Uzume swallowed hard as she watched Kara warily for any sign of that black miasma of evil.

"I-it's fine, Karasuba." Our Ashikabi shrank back slightly when Kara's withering glare shifted to her. "She's only concerned for me."

"Your will is our command." Kara said as a matter of fact. "Once you command us to do something, it is our duty to fulfill it."

"Unless it's a stupid command." I snickered.

"Regardless, we trust your judgement." Kara rolled her eyes at me and stared at Chiho hard. "If you order us to use a Norito then we trust that you know what you are doing. If you order Uzume to use that spider form of hers, then we believe that you know your limits."

"I…I understand." The small girl nodded. "Uzume, I'll be fine. I'll make sure I know my limits."

"Good." I smiled brilliantly at our Ashikabi before sitting down before her and gently picked her up. "I think we are done here, no?"

"Yes, I think it's time to leave." Akitsu nodded as she reached for her headpiece that she stylized as frost flake earrings. "By the time we get back it will be nearly nightfall."

"That was so cool, sister Uzume!" We all paused and looked at the holographic image of a small red haired girl who stared at the silk Sekirei with stars in her eyes. No, literally, she somehow made her pupils look like pentagrams… combined with her naturally red eyes it was actually a bit creepy. "I think your Norito is the best!"

"And you are?" Akitsu asked calmly, taking the fact that someone just hacked my phone and took my holographic projector for a joyride in stride.

"I am number 109, Dai!" The cheerful girl waved at the ice Sekirei.

"I see, I am former number 07, Akitsu." The older woman introduced herself before glancing back at us. "Number 109? I see, so that's why you were gone for so long."

"Hi Dai!" Chiho smiled at the red girl. "How are you? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, yes, everything is fine, don't worry!" Dai waved her hands wildly with a smile. "I got 110, 111 and 112 helping me out after all!"

"You still haven't named them?" Chiho frowned. "Calling them only numbers isn't nice…"

"As far as I know, Dai is the only one who got her name before she underwent her Initiation." I casually replied in Dai's place.

"Ah, I see." Chiho nodded. "Still, Dai why did you call now, with Lady Akitsu here? What if something bad happened?"

"Don't worry!" Dai grinned. "I studied everyone of importance who MBI had information on. I know Akitsu won't betray us!"

"Also," Dai's grin turned impish. "Did you know that Rei is involved in a love triangle with Akitsu and Karasuba while Akitsu is also involved with Takami?"

"I-what?!" Chiho stared at me, Kara and Akitsu incredulously.

"Number 109," Akitsu looked at our little sister, a cold chill suddenly sweeping through us all. "I'll meet you eventually. And when I do…"

"Right, sorry!" Dai cringed under Akitsu's glare. "Um, bye!"

Even as she disappeared, a giant hexagonal icicle appeared where she just stood, its razor sharp edges making me twitch. As we all looked at Akitsu, she merely pulled on her vacant expression and tried to look harmless. Right…

"Hey Rei." Uzume asked a short while later as we all stood, waiting for the helicopter to pick us up, Chiho still in my hands. "So what is your Norito?"

"It's…difficult to explain." I finally yielded under the eyes of everyone present. "I may have never explained this, but I have only 1 true ability."

"What do you mean?" Kara looked at me strangely. "I've seen you use all sorts of abilities."

"I only have 1 true ability, Gate:Open." I shook my head. "Everything else is a combination of different ways I use Gate:Open. For example, Gate:Swap is me drawing Gate:Open in a closed circle and then using another Gate:Open on it. Or Gate:Nova is me drawing 2 closed circles of Gate:Open in practically the same area as a stack and then using another Gate:Open on the result."

"Are you saying that you only have 1 real ability and everything else we saw you do was merely a perversion or combination of the original?" Haihane stared at me with huge eyes. "Damn and I thought I had it bad with my few abilities."

"Regardless," I waved aside their looks of wonder. "My Norito is another true ability, bringing my total count of actual abilities to 2."

"So what does it actually do?" Beni voiced out the general question.

"I… am not sure." I replied truthfully. "I'll probably test it out tonight after Chiho recovers."

"I am going with you." Kara's solid tone silenced the rest who also looked interested. It was clear that Kara wanted it to be just me and her although for what reasons, I don't know. Still, I am not adverse to this. Kara is the only person in this entire world who I trust explicitly and letting her see my Norito is of no problem. In fact, she might even pick up on something or help me experiment with it as the general feeling I got when my Norito unlocked with my wings was far too vague to tell me what it actually does.

I smiled faintly with silent thanks at Kara as we the chopper landed before us and we climbed in, all of us save for me and Akitsu tired and weary of using our Ultimate abilities. I even offered Kara a lap to sleep in as we flew which she accepted with casual grace. We both knew that our test run of my Norito might be a business where we'll need Kara rested and somewhat recovered.


	43. Gate:Nightmare

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Wish I could draw... Sometimes my muse sends me crystal clear images or even videos of scenes for me to write out. This one was one of such videos and gods was it hard to express it... I still think it could've been done better but after rewriting it a couple times I gave up.

* * *

><p>"Was this what you expected?" Kara asked as we both looked at a man who lay on the ground before us, tied up. It was deep night at this point and the only thing that provided light in this small alley was a backdoor light to some pub or something along those lines. The trash squirming before us was picked for the sole reason he was near a light, it would be far more trouble to have to hunt down someone and then drag them over to the nearest light source.<p>

"I feared as much…" I sighed, feeling the tiredness seep in. Using a Norito not only made me feel like my Tama was about to overheat but it also drained much of my energy and power upon use. I was nowhere near as tired as Beni or Haihane but I wasn't exactly skipping around like Kara or surprisingly Uzume. Speaking of which, it was rather odd how Uzume was perfectly fine after her Norito, even after spending about 10 minutes playing around with it. Perhaps her Norito drains Chiho instead? It would make sense as to why Chiho could barely move after Uzume canceled her Norito.

"Hmm." Kara stooped over the human trash with a frown on her face, examining the faint light blue sheen around him. "And it really does what you say it does?"

"Well, might as well test it." I sighed and drew my sword. The human had barely a chance to widen his eyes before my sword went right through his forehead. I wrenched it out and watched the pale blue effects of my Norito take place.

"Fascinating." Kara drew her own sword and slashed at the man several times. "I think your Norito might be more powerful than mine or Uzume's."

"Hardly." I frowned and kicked the body before us. "Useful, true, but hardly powerful."

"So what do you wish to do with this now?" Kara poked the object of my experimentation with her sword. "I don't think we can just leave this trash here…"

"Dismemberment, bag and a couple big boulders." I shrugged. "Should be enough for the immediate future."

Kara nodded as I took out a backpack I took with me and set to work doing what I was planned out to do. Honestly, it was a lot more troublesome than it sounds; my Norito was certainly something beyond what I was expecting. By the end of it I gave up the dismemberment portion and merely tied the body up tighter with several boulders, making sure that they'd stay on, and put it in a sack.

"We should get going," Kara yawned as we both sat on the edge of the bridge looking at the full crimson moon floating above the river. "I got a message from Minaka that he has a something he'd like for us to do tomorrow."

"Isn't it still our break?" I frowned as I got up. "Last day and all?"

"Yes, but he said it couldn't wait." Kara made a sound of disapproval. "Has to do with our status as Arbiters or something like that."

"Hmm, that does sound important." I acknowledged as we walked down the dark streets of Shinto Teito towards the great tower that loomed over everything else menacingly.

* * *

><p>"To think that this could happen in mere 4 days we were gone." I grumbled as Kara and I walked down a street of Shinto Teito next day, the sun once more closing in on the horizon. "Gods, what a fucked up day."<p>

"Well, at least we got to fight." Kara said whimsically, smiling briefly before frowning. "Somewhat…"

"Yea, I saw that girl kill herself on your sword." I sighed, I wasn't even joking, who the hell charges Kara at top speed with bare fists while she clearly has a sword pointing in your direction? Needless to say, Kara's surprise was so great that she barely had the time to move her blade away from the girl's Tama to pierce her heart instead.

"Tch." Was Kara's response as we walked on.

I never thought the day would go so downhill when we walked in as the entire Disciplinary Squad into Minaka's office at 10 am. Honestly, the news he dropped on us were so out there that I stood for a moment, thinking how the hell did I not account for the possibility of this happening? I mean, sure, Kara was as surprised as I was but we could've thought this would've happened.

A human's instinctual response to danger they believe they can't deal with is to seek help. Safety in numbers and all of that bullshit. So it should've been obvious that the obvious overwhelming might of the Disciplinary Squad as well as the power of the other 4 major players would call for some sort of a response. We, as a whole with Minaka included, didn't actually mind that about 2 dozen Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs banded together under the leadership of a certain Himura Youichi.

No, we didn't mind that there was now an alliance that could potentially be strongest in the whole Plan. Minaka didn't mind as he thought it added a bit of flavour to his mad plan while we didn't mind because we thought that they'd keep Minaka busy. What we all failed to realize however, was that this Himura was a coward. Honestly, he put weeks' worth of work into creating this alliance only to use it instantly on one mission: to escape Shinto Teito.

How fucking pathetic. He could've become a new major player to this plan, a new piece that would force Minaka to spend time planning it out. Instead he sends all of his assembled 'allies' in a single, suicidal head on attack at a city perimeter to break through and run. What a fool.

Their downfall was their lack of coordination. As a newly made alliance, none of them particularly trusted each other nor worked with each other. As such, it took them two whole days to gather their forces into one fist near the edge of the North sector. 2 Days too long, Minaka spotted the odd conglomeration by the evening of the first day and by the morning of the second; we were briefed on the situation.

Truthfully, it was Himura's failure as a planner that really got them spotted. Had they met somewhere other than Northern sector, Minaka might've missed them. But considering that MBI can keep track of most Sekirei in this city and considering that Northern sector is very poor on signatures… It was rather easy for Minaka to glance at the map and then wonder what the hell was going on. There was a reason no one went North. It had to do with things like Miya and the fact that last time people went there, 16 Sekirei wound up dead and quite a few civilians with them. I mean, it's still all over the news, days later. Of course, MBI covered it up with some BS and the Sekirei weren't actually mentioned but everyone who needs to know, knows.

However, even with his failure as a planner, Himura had a chance of success. There were 2 points he could've went to. Well, 3 really but no one thought he'd go for the 3rd as I proved how bad trying to escape across a bridge is. So, what we did was split up. Me and Kara would secure the smaller waypoint which had a significantly lower MBI presence while Chiho, Uzume, Beni and Haihane went to the larger checkpoint which was commanded by Specialist Captain Anton. Oh, and Anton mined the bridge just in case.

Anyway, had Himura done some scouting and then attacked Anton instead, they might've had a chance to overwhelm them…provided Chiho didn't empower Uzume, Beni or Haihane with a Norito. Now that I think about it, having either Beni or Uzume use a Norito in a city will result in catastrophic collateral damage. Just the thing we need for tomorrow's fight.

Moving back to the topic of the assault. It was rather funny to see this wave of Sekirei in all of their outfits and weapons with their Ashikabi in tow approach us in arrogance. To see Himura move out and tell the MBI soldiers to surrender with a sneer. And then see that sneer just slide straight off his face and turn into paleness so white that it was worthy of a corpse long dead.

The moment Kara and I walked out from behind the barricades, several Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs just straight up gave up and ran instantly, not even bothering to stand and fight. Even though we gave the option to yield, Himura ordered the attack anyway. So Kara and I charged them, taking the fight to them.

It was chaos in its purest form. Himura was an absolute imbecile. He threw 26 Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs into the fight without them knowing anything about each other. Without them knowing who does what or even what their preferred range is. They didn't trust each other; they didn't care about each other. The first time someone pulled out a Norito and ended up nearly completely destroying another Sekirei caught in friendly fire by accident, me and Kara had to not only watch out for the actual Noritos coming it, but also that they won't result in Level 5 terminations on those caught in friendly fire.

Had they showed anywhere near the teamwork and cohesion the team I fought at the bridge showed, we would've been steamrolled, Kara's power or not. Surviving a single Norito is difficult business but when your enemies got 26 of them? I trust Kara to be powerful enough to survive maybe 3 Noritos at point blank considering the general weakness of our enemies, but if they had anyone even near our level, their Norito would've wrecked us. I mean, sure I dodged the Ultimate Sekirei abilities by phasing into Spirit Realm but Kara couldn't do that and she was too far for me to get to her on time for each Norito that was fired at us.

Yea, that fight was nowhere near as fun for me as it was for Kara. That being said, I am rather proud that I managed to get through it without a single Termination! Granted, there was no need for me to do so, most of the Sekirei actually died to friendly fire rather than to me or Kara. It honestly wasn't that hard, the morons kept coming at me and all I had to do was phase into the Spirit Realm and watch them kill each other.

I was rather pissed to learn that 14 Sekirei were deactivated in that fight, all Level 3 or 4. Praise the gods there were no Level 5s but there were several close ones from what Akitsu told me. The rest of those involved ran away, some of them with wounds. In fact, they broke and ran at the same time the first Ashikabi began dying. Once again, it wasn't our fault but some of the Noritos sent our way were damn Anti-Army by Haihane's classification! Using those in close quarters combat with your allies everywhere is so stupid I just don't even have words to describe it.

Some of the Noritos sent our way were actually quite interesting, there was this one in particular that sent everyone in the area to sleep. I dodged it while in Spirit Realm and Kara, although it took her a second, simply resisted it with her aura.

Speaking of which, I am now very cautious of sparring with her. That aura of hers, after she got her wings and did her Norito, is now a virtual imitation of her Norito, just without the wings of uber death and destruction. The corrosive miasma stayed though - weakened somewhat - and some of the wounds caused by her sword that practically dripped with that stuff were terrifying to behold. So yea, I am in no hurry whatsoever to spar with her anymore if she brings that thing out, I rather like having all of my pieces still with me. Unlike that girl that got clipped by Kara's sword and then looked like her wound got splashed with acid. Her screams even got through the din of the fight for a while before her Ashikabi ran through the explosions and everything and saved her. I was rather impressed by the luck of that black haired boy; he got nearly killed by 6 separate misaimed abilities before he got to his Sekirei and saved her.

Even now, as we walked I glanced occasionally at her sword warily. That thing got its share of blood today and by the gods was it a horrific weapon when empowered by Kara's new ability. I don't even want to ask how many Sekirei fell to it today…

Despite the terrible nature of the fight and the fact that a good city block has been redesigned into rubble of various sizes, the fight only lasted about 10 minutes from start to end. After the remnants of the group broke and ran, Minaka called us and demanded to see the moron responsible for this mess. Preferably alive, but he understands if all we can do is bring his head in a bag. I myself fully intended on butchering the bastard the moment I see him. Really, here we were trying our hardest to stall the plan and keep as many Sekirei alive as possible and then we have this dumb fucker show up out of nowhere and lead the biggest force of Sekirei ever assembled straight to their doom.

Honestly, to lead a force of 26 Sekirei into a pointless battle and then proceed to lose over half of them in minutes due to stupidity was practically heresy in my eyes. Each Sekirei has the potential to become a force entire armies would fear to cross – as proven by Beni, Haihane and recently Uzume as well as some of the other Sekirei. When I looked at the dead bodies of my kin and those still alive, moaning in agony; I was severely tempted to go get Homura and hunt the asshole responsible down to the ends of the Earth if I had to. Homura would be quite a useful being on this hunt, not only is he a walking campfire but I bet he could do a very nice barbeque too.

Despite Kara's half-hearted objections that we should hunt now, I stayed and administered what first aid I could to those still alive. Makeshift bandages and what not to try and keep whoever I could alive before MBI evacuation helicopters got on site.

I noticed one peculiar trait as I did what I could. The weaker or more hurt a Sekirei was, the fiercer their Ashikabi were in defending them – provided they were able at the moment. Several even charged me with makeshift weapons, trying to defend their downed bond-mates that lay in pools of their own blood.

Impressive as it were, it was also quite a nuisance to me when I tried to bandage my kin before they completely bled out. Seeing what I was doing, the other Ashikabi relented and started doing what over first aid they knew. Actually, I was a bit biased here; several Sekirei also came to me, their wounded Ashikabi in their arms, injured from the friendly fire. And then there were of course those Ashikabi who lost their Sekirei too. Out of the 14 Sekirei that fell, only 4 Ashikabi died with them, the rest had to weather the feedback from their bond broken. It was easy to spot them, sitting on the ground with blank eyes, unblinking. Staring into nothing, comatose. And those were just the ones who got paralyzed by the shock; some of the Ashikabi already killed themselves, unable to take the pain.

I bit my lip as we walked, thinking back to the scene we just left. It was something straight out of hell I think. Even I, with my experience in creating such nightmares found it difficult to control myself.

Rubble, big and small, was everywhere. The city block was turned into shattered concrete and twisted metal with only a few lucky buildings still standing, full of holes like Swiss cheese. Everywhere, there was blood and bodies, over and under the rubble, in pools of blood and in graves of cold stone. All around, Sekirei, Ashikabi and civilians wandered, lost or searching for their loved ones or tending to those lucky enough to survive. And wails of despair and agony rising to the cold blue skies above the nightmare.

Contrary to her whining, Kara turned out to be a great field medic much to my surprise. Her skills in this field were far beyond my clumsy attempts to stop the bleeding and keep body parts in roughly the area they were supposed to be in. With a couple support type Sekirei who stayed in the back and were lucky enough to be unharmed in the madness, we worked hard to treat the wounded that people kept bringing in.

It was horrifying really, I thought as we walked, so much damage, destruction and death in only 10 minutes of combat. In those 2 hours that we spent trying to save whoever we could as MBI scrambled everything it could to get to us and transfer the wounded to nearby hospitals, I learned one thing. I learned that I really hated feeling helpless.

I couldn't help but slip into the nightmares, images of the horror and bitter powerlessness I felt flashing before me once more.

A woman, whose face was nothing but a mask of blood and tears, wearing what used to be nice clothes stumbled around, clutching a child to her chest. The child, so mangled that I couldn't even tell if it was a boy or a girl. So injured was the child that it was by far easier to list off what wasn't broken or ripped or shredded. And yet, despite all odds, the kid still breathed and still called for its mother to make the pain go away. And me, who stood there looking on, helpless to do anything as the woman walked around on the rubble, her shoes long gone, calling for help, for anyone to help her dying child. But those who could listen, those who weren't busy trying to do what they could for those they could help, only looked on, unable to do anything. Afraid that the child would die the moment they touched it.

I clenched my hands, the metal groaning in protest as Kara looked over in concern, yet another scene appearing before me, another nightmare of my failure.

A Sekirei, a proud and strong woman I fought for a brief period of time in the chaotic battle, – her lack of wounds attesting to her skill – sat on the rubble, not caring for the sharp fragments that bit into her fair skin. In her lap lay a richly dressed young man, barely older than Minato, his left arm and leg both missing, torn off by rogue ability no doubt. Despite his mortal injuries, the raven-haired man was smiling and I overheard him say to his Sekirei gently, that had he lived 7 lives more, he'd fall in love with her all over again, 7 times more. The woman smiled through her tears and leaned over to kiss her True Ashikabi, one final time. Her steel wings startled the surrounding people but all they could do was look on, like I did, – cursing my inability to do anything – as her wings faded and the Sekirei fell over, her hand still holding her bond-mate's in death. The sun glinted off the 2 golden rings on their intertwined fingers, causing me to blink and look away.

"Hey…" Kara waved her hand in front of my face, but I didn't see it, trapped in my nightmares, seeing the results of that horrible fight once more.

Just across the street from me was yet another pair, a schoolgirl still in her school uniform and her Sekirei, a young boy no older than she was. The teary girl did everything she could to help the red haired boy but it was far too little as the grievously injured Sekirei lay in an ever widening pool of his own blood. The young Sekirei raised his hand, trying to reach for his Ashikabi's face for one last time, but his strength failed him and his hand went limp even as the girl caught it. She stared at his face in disbelief for a moment before she let go, clutching her head and screeched in absolute agony, the sound piercing through the general din like a knife through hot butter. Suddenly, she stopped and a look of calm appeared on her face. Before anyone could as much as twitch, she grabbed her Sekirei's rapier and drove it through her own heart with such force that the guard touched her breast. With her last effort, she brought the dead body of her Sekirei to her chest and muttered with her dying breath, smiling serenely.

"Together, forever and ever."

I came back from my memories to find myself in Kara's arms as we stood on the street, the shorter woman holding me. I blinked, wondering why everything was so foggy and unclear and realised with a start that I was crying.

"Shhh now," Kara whispered to me, her face resting on my metal breastplate. "It's alright, it's over now. We are going to find the person responsible and we are going to make him pay."

"T-thank you." I swallowed hard as I embraced my lover back. "For being here, with me."

"Tch." Kara huffed. "As if I'd be anywhere else. Come, you wanted to grab Homura before we hunt."

"Y-yea." I slowly detached myself from Kara, her pale brown eyes looking at me with worry making me look away. I…hated worrying Kara. She rarely did it but when she did, it just didn't seem right to have that kind of look on her face. It hurt me, to see it.

"I'll be fine." I closed my eyes briefly and started to walk once I opened them. Kara gave me one final glance of concern and then we walked on once more, but this time my important person was walking at my side, her hand holding mine. I could feel her calmness and focus seep into me through our contact, Kara trying to restore my emotional balance.

When Chiho called and said she was coming over the moment the fight was over, both Kara and I ordered her and everyone else to stay the hell away. We even went as far as to promise to use them as test subjects for Kara's apparition if we so much as saw them there. Our Ashikabi may be growing rapidly into the Ashikabi we need but this… This hell was something neither she nor Uzume should ever see, it would shatter them. I wouldn't want Beni here either and considering Kara ordered Haihane to stay with Chiho in an unusually serious tone, neither did she. She may have used the excuse that it was a pain to restock the Alcohol cabinet the last time something like this happened but considering she looked away as she said this and used a strangely somber voice…

Regardless, after being subject to mental and emotional torture for more than 2 hours, I think my general mood of 'I'll get that fucker even if it's the last thing I'll ever do' is quite excusable. In fact, my greatest wish right now is to find Homura, enlist him on our hunt, chase down that fucking Himura and then barbeque him alive, very, very, very, very slowly. That bastard may have run off the moment things went sour but we'll find him. He can't escape the city and I'll search the whole place myself if I have to till I find him. And when I do… I'll make him pay for forcing me to feel so gods be damned helpless.

It was for this reason that we were now heading over to Izumo Inn, the sun in the cold blue skies above setting down before us.


	44. Gate:Vengeance

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>"My, my." Kara stopped, seeing something on the road. I, still plagued by the nightmares I tried to shake off, stopped too but it took me a couple seconds to focus on the real world. "If it isn't Yume's container…"<p>

I came back to find ourselves standing mere meters away from the fence surrounding Izumo Inn, facing Musubi and Minato who were also on their way to enter. While Minato carried what looked like a dozen grocery bags, Musubi caused me to raise an eyebrow at her huge satchel that she carried on her back.

"Lady Karasuba?" Musubi cheerfully waves at us, holding the bag nearly twice her size easily with a single hand while Minato looked at us cautiously. "Hi Lady Rei! What are you doing here?"

"Work." Kara gave a dangerous smile. "We are here for a short stop, Rei needs to pick someone up."

"Hell Musubi." I waved tiredly at the excitable girl and her Ashikabi who looked at my bloodied and tattered haori with obvious fear. "Hi Minato. Is Homura here?"

"Why do-" Was all Minato could say before 2 more Sekirei joined us. While Tsukiumi landed beside and slightly in front of Minato, her water blade out and pointed at us, Kusano landed right on her Ashikabi and brought them both down with a cloud of dust.

"Why are you here." Tsukiumi stared at me in controlled anger.

"Spirit!" Kusano on the other hand happily ran out from behind her fellow Sekirei's back and was hugging my leg in a flash. "Play again?"

"Sorry, Kusano, not right now." I lifted my hand to ruffle her golden hair but froze instead when my eyes noticed that my gauntlets were crusted with dry blood.

"Rei Is too tired to play right now kid." Kara told Kusano with a serious expression.

"Ku!" Minato tried to dash forward to grab Kusano but was held back by a serious Tsukiumi who still watched us, alert and wary.

"I will ask again." I sighed heavily, we posed no threat right now, why were so tense? "Is Homura here?"

"Why yes he is." The front door opened and Takehito peeked out in his usual kimono. "Why don't you all come in, Miya just finished cooking dinner."

I was faced with a tough choice. Go and eat delightfully delicious food and most likely pass out due to how tired I felt or persevere and go hunt instead. I was about to decline when I got a whiff of something delicious that seeped out from the open door. On the other hand, I wasn't really tired physically, just mentally and emotionally. I haven't actually done anything particularly physically strenuous and I could always just force myself to stay awake…

"Come on." Kara grabbed me by my waist and hauled me inside. "You need to eat."

Takehito raised an eyebrow at the care and gentleness Kara showed me but said nothing as he stepped aside to let us in. He did frown at the state of my armour and haori but he and I both knew there was no way I'd ever remove my armour in this inn. Not with Miya around. Granted, it wouldn't help much if she really does try to kill me but it was more psychological at this point. I only felt safe and comfortable without my armour when in Kara's embrace or Akitsu's.

"Oh my," Miya frowned at Takehito when she saw us all walk in. "I see you picked up a couple of strays again Takehito."

Much to the surprise of everyone at the table, who cringed from Miya's taunt, Kara ignored the jab and instead helped me sit down before taking a seat beside me, her hand holding mine.

Around the table sat: Yukari between Homura and Shiina, Kusano sat by Shiina's side and chattered away, Kazehana sat between Matsu and Homura while goading them into a drinking contest and Takehito took a seat at the head of the table with his arms around Miya's waist. Much to my surprise, although Tsukiumi and Musubi took a seat to put Minato between them, Yashima sat straight on his lap. The main surprise came from the fact that Minato, although red from his emotions, hugged his Sekirei from behind, allowing her to relax into his chest.

I mean, sure Takami hinted that his relationship with Yashima had progressed far beyond his other Sekirei but this was far past what I expected of the timid and usually shy boy. Still, watching them act lovey dovey in peace was a relief to me. After seeing so much despair, suffering and sorrow today I needed a rest. For a while, after introductions, they let us savour the fabulous food in peace but it didn't last.

"What happened to you Rei?" Yukari ran out of patience first, or was it tact that was lacking? "You look like you've been to hell and back, I've never seen you so…"

"Defeated and tired." Kazehana said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "I can see it in your eyes; even when I saw you after the battle at the bridge you looked far better. Something big must've happened to cause this. Even Karasuba here isn't looking quite peachy."

"So?" Kara shrugged. "This has nothing to do with you all except for Homura. If you want information, I bet the little scuffle we got into will make into the evening news."

"Why would it affect me?" Homura asked wearily, instantly assuming it had to do with his Guardian business. His guess isn't that far off honestly, I mean what else could I come to him for? Meanwhile, Matsu adopted a vacant look I associated with her browsing the internet.

Speaking of Matsu, it was still interesting to see her out of that room of hers. Ever since that game of 'catch the ghost' that we played, Matsu seemed to give up on pretending that she was hiding and instead began to fully rely on Miya for protection. It was quite hilarious when I visited with Kara at one point in time and Takehito invited us to eat with them, as always.

Matsu sat there, frozen under Kara's playful gaze, for the whole dinner and she now has a strand of white hair that sharply contrasts her fiery mane. Honestly, I think it makes her look more professional and mature which clashed horribly with the mask of a young girl she uses.

In other news, she almost went full on berserk on Kara after the later told her she had nothing to worry about at the end of the dinner. Finding out that you were hiding from the wrong person for years was quite difficult for Matsu.

"Holy shit…" Matsu suddenly called out, breaking me from my thoughts, her expression still vacant. "Yea, this definitely made the evening news."

"Language, Matsu." Miya called out but Matsu ignored her, as she was still busy perusing the waters of the treacherous thing that was the internet. After Haihane forced me to sit behind a computer and browse the internet, clicking at whatever I thought was interesting I never once again looked at the computer in anything but in wary disgust. Haihane claimed that it was just a small accident that I ended up in something called 4chan but I don't care, the internet is evil and every time I need to use it to look up something I do it with full knowledge that it's just waiting to spew vile sludge at me given half a chance.

"What is it Matsu?" Minato looked at his Sekirei with great interest.

"MBI needs to come up with better excuses though," Matsu mused as she resurfaced and looked at us warily. "2 Gas tankers colliding in the middle of a street and then blowing it to kingdom come doesn't quite cover what happened, especially if there is several clips of a massive fight on several private blogs."

"What the hell happened there that yielded over 100 corpses and they still keep finding more? Nearly three times that are injured and a good number of those aren't expected to survive the night." Matsu took off her glasses and looked at us sharply. "MBI flooded the area with soldiers and are excavating an entire city block, searching for survivors."

The atmosphere grew dark as everyone looked at us in fear or – in Miya's case – revulsion.

"Do you know a certain Ashikabi named Himura Youichi?" I asked tiredly, sipping tea.

"He is this guy with glasses and has a single Sekirei with a spear, right?" It was surprisingly Minato who spoke up. "He came to me yesterday asking for help getting out of the city but I got some real bad vibes from him so I declined."

"And it is a good thing you did." I ignored Kara's frown as she realized that she was this close to having a better fight hours prior. "Otherwise you may have ended up dead or worse and your Sekirei might've joined my 14 kin who fell there."

"14…" Homura muttered in horror.

"No way…" Yukari covered her mouth in horror.

"That little shit sent 25 pairs into battle against us while he ran." Kara's frown turned murderous. "He ordered those he conned into following him to unleash their Norito's on us, not caring about friendly fire. I only got to fight 3 Sekirei because of that coward."

"Kara." I stood up heavily, having to force myself to stay awake at this point. I could tell that our presence was intolerable at this point. "Let's go. We have a coward to hunt."

"Oh?' Kara looked at me in surprise, ignoring the downright hostile atmosphere. "Didn't you want to ask Homura to join us on this little witch hunt?"

"Why would I?" Homura asked wearily. "My days as the Guardian are over, even if I did want to go I have duties elsewhere now."

"What, you don't want to hunt the one directly responsible for the deaths of 14 Sekirei?" Kara smirked as she got up. "I only terminated 2 Sekirei in that fight while Rei killed none. Neither of us did any of the damage that turned that city block into rubble. You still want to let that guy go free after this? Or will you join us for a little late night barbeque?"

"I-" Homura stood up, frowning but he was suddenly interrupted by a serious Matsu who somehow gained an aura of command around her.

"You should go." She said in a forceful tone, her pale red eyes drilling into Homura. "I just finished analysing the MBI reports, witness compilations and what little footage survived. Karasuba isn't lying. It was a one sided slaughter caused by friendly fire."

The whole table fell silent at this. Thanks to Matsu's mask of a disturbingly lecherous girl, it's a bit hard to realize that the real Matsu was the Lieutenant of the First Generation Disciplinary Squad for a reason. Although Miya was the one who made the decisions and led them in battle, Matsu was the brain in operations that was ever at her captain's service. Thanks to her hacking and spying skills, she was always in control of the battlefield, in and out of combat.

According to Kara, Matsu was the real reason why untrained and unready Sekirei wiped the floor with a force of 100 000 men, armour, air and ships. Oh sure, she didn't do any actual combat, but suddenly, the ships would stall, their targeting algorithms fried, tanks would suddenly get lost, their GPS pointing them in a completely random direction, helicopters would crash as their delicate systems malfunctioned for seemingly no reason whatsoever. In fact, when the fleet tried to cut their losses and use rockets to bombard the island into oblivion, Matsu hacked them into exploding right in their silos inside the carriers, tearing the massive steel islands into pieces and killing thousands.

Of course, all of this was highly classified information and Kara advised me not to blabber on about it as an angry Matsu could make your life very, very difficult. She shuddered when I asked for clarification and refused, stating that in the age of electronics, a Sekirei with power over them can be quite scary if slighted.

Regardless, Homura might not know of Matsu's true role but I could see that he was quite unnerved by the little bit of Matsu's true self he got shown here for a moment. He still hesitated though and glanced at his Ashikabi who didn't seem to be too keen on the idea of letting her Sekirei go off and burn someone to death. Seeing this, I sighed and made my way back to the entrance, my body swaying slightly from my exhaustion.

Normally I'd never fight in this condition, but thankfully, all I need to do is find the bastard and stick a sword or 2 down his throat. Kara will handle his Sekirei for me. I had only taken maybe 10 steps before Kara appeared by my side and grabbed my waist, supporting me. I smiled at her in a silent thank you and continued on.

"Stop." We both turned our heads to see Matsu, still without her glasses and serious, hold out a phone to Kara. "I will feed his current location through this. Feel free to throw it away after you find him."

"Thanks, lieutenant." Kara smirked at Matsu's huff as she grabbed the phone. Matsu didn't go beyond an irritated look though as Kara made sure to keep her voice down. Even though Minato called for her, she ignored him in favour of seeing us 2 off.

"Make him pay." Matsu told us at the door before sighing wearily and putting on her glasses with her mask to go calm down her clueless Ashikabi.

* * *

><p>"Look," Homura rolled his eyes at our silent question. "My Ashikabi is a young, clueless girl who hasn't actually seen blood and war. What the hell do you think my response would be to you asking me to go kill people right in front of her?!"<p>

"That," I laughed, embarrassed. "Makes perfect sense. I wouldn't want Chiho on this mission either, at least not yet."

"Not yet?" Homura, in his badass outfit of awesomeness raised an eyebrow as we stood on a small skyscraper, the wind only adding bonus points to his overwhelming image as it ruffled his ashen hair. I don't usually care much for men, but damn, this guy was making me feel heat just by looking at him. Or maybe I am just tired and delirious, either one works in my state.

"Our Ashikabi is trying her best to be worthy of us." Kara said with a hint of pride and amusement. "Not that she actually needs to, as far as we are concerned she's fine as she is."

"Oh great," Homura sighed. "Don't tell me she's going to be going after the Ashikabi in these fights?"

"No, nothing like that." I sighed peacefully as I sat down on the edge of the 50 or so story building. Our target was just below us, unaware of the doom awaiting. Matsu truly is something, she hacked the entire city grid and found our target in minutes and since then never lost him. Scary woman that one, I thought as I squinted down to see our target argue with police, to think that she put down a fake arrest warrant out for the guy just as a casual addition to feeding us information on his whereabouts…

"We should go grab him before…" I paused as apparently the man lost his cool and set his Sekirei on the two cops. The poor guys never stood a chance as they fell to the ground, cloven in 2 by a halberd. So that's what her weapon looks like in its full form, interesting. "Well, too late I guess."

"Let's go." Kara jumped down, her aura coming to its full might giving her the image of a demonic crow descending on her prey. I sighed as I leaned over and fell, Homura's surprised face giving me a slight grin. He leapt after us, jumping from building side to building side, using his fire as a jetpack of sorts. I shifted into Soul Form after noticing the lamppost pass by, figuring that the ground was near. I was too tired to turn as I fell back forwards.

Ah, there was a reason why I tended not to escape fall damage using Soul Form. It has something to do with the sewers of Shinto Teito. Although highly automated and quite sophisticated for what they are, it didn't stop them from being extremely unpleasant. Especially if you land in the sewage water itself. Thank gods it doesn't actually touch me as I was in the Spirit Realm but it didn't make it any less disgusting to fall into. By the time I got back to surface level, still in my Soul Form, it was already over.

Kara stood over Nanaha, the Sekirei of our target, her blade dripping crimson liquid. The downed Sekirei was on her back, lying in a pool of her blood, a surprised expression frozen on her face as she clutched her halberd, cloven in 2. Looks like someone tried to block a strike from Kara's blade as she enhanced her strength. Even I had trouble blocking those and I bet I could snap Nanaha in 2 in I wanted to. For her troubles, she got her weapon sliced cleanly in 2 and then the blade proceeded to cleave her from shoulder to waist, narrowly escaping from touching her Tama. Instant death that was, which was good; I'd rather not have any of our kin suffer if we must terminate them.

"Ah, the final Arbiter has arrived." Kara grinned sadistically at the man's flinch when he saw me. "Good, now we can start now, hmm?"

I looked at the fucker responsible for ruining my day beyond all measure and the bastard responsible for killing 14 of my kin. I was…disappointed. It was just a common Asian guy; you could find hundreds of them in the street. Dark brown hair, glasses and a cowardice that could easily be judged by the dark stain on his pants. Not saying that all or even most Asians were cowards, if I so much as hinted at that I am afraid Takami will kill me but this one was truly a coward. Really, this was responsible for killing 14 Sekirei? 15 if you count his own. By the gods, this fool should've never even been an Ashikabi, I mean, look at him grovel away before us for his life.

"Pathetic." I pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh. "This…this is what we chased after?"

"Indeed." Kara looked at the guy with disgust. "I am sorry, but I am not letting this filth touch my blade. I am afraid he'll corrupt it somehow."

I rolled my eyes at her, really, I mean sure the guy was a slime ball and a disgusting creature but somehow I doubt he was on par with her corrosive miasma that she coats her blade with occasionally nowadays.

"Homura," I turned to the fire Sekirei who also looked at the young man before us with revulsion. "Burn him."

Homura sighed but complied, a fireball quickly forming between his hands and he casually threw it at Himura. Kara sighed as we knew that he made it extra potent to kill the man fast, it could be easily seen by the intensity of the flame. To our complete surprise, our target dove to the side and managed to escape most of the flames. Most of them, but not all of them though, the enhanced potency of Homura's flames playing a foul trick on the man as even a little bit was enough to quickly consume him. We watched as he screamed in pain, rolling around trying to put out the fire on his clothes.

"No." I stopped Homura from launching another fireball to end his pain. When the fire Sekirei looked at me in surprise I explained. "Consider it fate. He could've got out of this relatively painlessly but fate had other plans."

Homura made a face and put out his fire. Right, he isn't quite enamored with fate. Something about Minaka preaching a bit too much about how his fate was to be of a confused gender. So we watched in silence as Himura slowly burned to death, screaming and wailing for every minute that he fought to stay alive. As he died, I made a note to never get hit by Homura's fire. Before he got his wings it was a lot less potent than this. Seriously, those flames stuck to their target like ravenous wolves on their dying pray. Considering even the cement burned in some areas, I wondered if he applied a Napalm effect to his fire, I mean cement doesn't burn…right?

We were startled out of reverie by an MBI evacuation chopper that landed nearby and Takami climbed out, faithful Akitsu beside her. Ah yes, by the time Himura turned to a merrily burning campfire, it would seem enough time passed for MBI to arrive to pick up Nanaha.

"So that's him?" Takami held a cigarette out for Homura who lit it without question, the move long practised between the 2 of them. "I am not sure if Minaka will be sad that you didn't bring him in alive or overjoyed that he had such a painful death."

"It doesn't matter." I sighed and sat down straight on the ground, my strength finally spent. "It's over now."

"Not exactly." Akitsu said with apprehension as she joined us, having finished overseeing the evacuation of Nanaha. As we turned to her, the silent question on our faces, it was Takami who answered instead. "Minaka had begun the 3rd Round 15 minutes ago."

We all stared at Takami in silence and then a dreadful feeling arrived. I shifted to look at Kara and sighed, of course she wouldn't be happy on missing out. Homura on the other hand, was sweating buckets as he stared at the warped, evil apparition that Kara has become. Ah right, he never actually seen her use her aura in such a way. I wonder if I should tell him that it's actually Kara's Norito that she drags out into reality as a phantasm. Na, let him get surprised on the battlefield when this see-through apparition suddenly turns solid and starts obliterating everything before it.

I giggled as I imagined his face and drew the attention of everyone present. While Akitsu, Takami and Homura stared at me incredulously, not understanding how I could possibly not be affected, Kara looked at me in concern.

"I'll deal with Minaka later," She canceled her aura and stooped over to pick me up, her enhanced strength easily allowing her to pick up someone twice her weight. It felt rather nice actually, being held in her protective embrace. It was incredibly hard not to fall asleep in fact. "Rei needs rest."

"N-no." I mumbled, opening my eyes to look into Kara's pale brown ones. "We need to get to Chiho."

"She'll be fine." Takami looked at me anxiously. "She has Uzume, Haihane and Beni to take care of her."

"…" Kara and I looked at each other and then looked over to Akitsu. Obviously, she was the more realistic one of the 2, having seen our Noritos. Having Uzume and Beni in 1 group was asking for a tragedy. Sure, we wanted to break things and force Minaka to never use us like this again, but we planned to have only 1 of those 2 actually attend the fight. While Beni or Uzume rampaged, Haihane, I or Kara would protect our Ashikabi from debris and what not.

"The next fight is here," Akitsu took out a tablet and showed us a picture of twisting roads and bridges. "This is the Chuuou Junction, it's about 15 minutes from here by helicopter if you want a ride."

"Where is it?" Kara ignored Takami and Homura talking to each other in the background.

"Here." Akitsu just handed us over the tablet, a GPS route already traced on it. "The battle is scheduled for 10:00, so in 22 minutes. Good luck."

"Karasuba, Rei." Before we could take off, or rather before Kara could take off with me in her grasp, Takami approached us once more. "Chiho has already picked Haihane, Beni and Uzume to go with her. Minaka won't let you switch the order anymore. The most you can do is watch."

"We don't have to participate." I smiled as I held out my hand and let my power course through it, making it glow pale blue. "Why, I think we'll just watch, just me, Kara and Chiho."

"Hmph, I see." Takami smiled before turning serious. "Minato will be present there. Please, try not to kill him."

"We won't aim for the boy." Kara replied as a matter of fact. "But in the chaos of a battle anything can happen."

"That's all I am asking for." Takami sighed wearily and suddenly looked decades older then she usually appeared. Akitsu, sensing the change, embraced her from behind tenderly. Meanwhile, Kara took off, the speed of her charge making people look at us with wild eyes as we passed cars and people in a flurry of wind. Kara was obviously using her power to enhance her speed in an effort to get us to the Junction as fast as possible, but even with us moving at nearly 80 kilometers per hour according to the tablet it will still take us about 10 minutes on the GPS to get to our destination. And then we'll have to look around for Chiho as we forgot to ask where exactly she was.

I could only hope that we would make it in time, as much as I trust Uzume, Beni and Haihane, Chiho will be much safer with me. After all, the 2 Realms can't touch each other.


	45. Gate:Match

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Damn it, where are they?" Kara muttered as we stood on a skyscraper overlooking the junction before us. For some odd reason, it was covered in very thick fog and from our view point we could only make out vague shape of the Junction itself. The fact that it was night time and the only viable source of light was the moon didn't help at all. For some reason, all of the lights around the Junction were off, street lamps and billboards alike. Hell, even the windows in the skyscrapers around it were completely empty, devoid of life. I guess it's a good thing Minaka bothered to evacuate everyone in the surrounding area but did he have to go and cut the power too?<p>

"Other side." I pointed vaguely into the mist before us as I felt my bond, Chiho shinning like a star in my eyes once more. "Here…"

"Tch." Kara sighed when I took us to the other side but didn't go beyond that. She understood that Minaka would make a mess if it was any other way. We aren't supposed to interfere after all.

"…"

"What?" I asked with a yawn, still trying to stay awake. "This is how I always land."

"Into the sewers." Kara rolled her eyes as she jumped up and through the ceiling, getting us out of the sewers we fell into when Kara jumped off the skyscraper. "Well, at least I now know why you have a disgusted face whenever you climb out."

"Huh, this is quite handy." Kara remarked as we dashed straight through the intersection, not caring about anything in our way. "I could get used to this."

"Please d-don't." I yawned once more, sleepily looking ahead as Kara carried me. "I'd hate to see you smash into a wall because of it."

Kara only huffed in amusement, no doubt thinking that she'd smash through it regardless of whether she was in Spirit Realm or Living Realm. Honestly, she's right. Not as effective as Beni who can literally walk through bunker doors when her Shock Charge is active but I think she can easily melt her way through with that corrosive miasma of hers.

Although I liked having Chiho shine like a Polar Star for me, the trouble was that I could only tell the direction she was in and not the distance. Of course, when it suddenly dashed sideways and out of my vision, I knew we ran past her so I had Kara turn. After repeating the process a couple more times, we ended up meeting them halfway down the helipad they were going down from.

"Karasuba? Rei?" Chiho asked, surprised, as she looked at the slightly winded Kara who carried me. "Rei, are you alright?"

"Yea…" I yawned once more reached out to rub my eyes only to stop when I remembered that a: I wore metal gauntlets and b: I wore bloody metal gauntlets. Not something I'd like near my eyes any time soon. "I am just tired."

"You should've went back," Beni fussed around me, concern clear on her face. "We can handle this."

"Oh I am sure you can." Kara said with a disappointed sigh. "Seeing as we can't participate, we'll just watch."

"Alright." Chiho smiled in relief. "The Director stressed how I can only take 3 Sekirei with me."

"Don't worry," I patted Kara's arm that held me up. "I'll keep an eye on Kara."

"I have doubts about who's keeping an eye on whom…" Haihane muttered as she looked at me in Kara's arms with slight jealousy. Ah yes, I am not sure who Kara carried like this aside from me and Chiho. Most likely, no one, aren't I special?

"We should go." Uzume called as she stared down at the thick fog, balanced precariously on the safety rail. "I can see shapes moving around there, I think the rest of the contestants arrived."

"Before that," Kara looked at Chiho sharply. "What's your plan?"

"Uhm, it's the same as we discussed." Chiho shrugged. "Let Benitsubasa or Uzume Norito and then destroy the entire area. Also, should we? I mean, there's so many people around…"

"There's no one here." I said in a half-whisper, too tired to do much else.

"From what we saw," Kara picked up for me. "Everyone was evacuated so you can safely have Benitsubasa or Uzume wreak everything."

"Wait," I forced my eyes open from a sudden revelation. "Cooldown."

"Shit." Kara swore as she realized the same thing as me. We all used our Noritos yesterday afternoon and Akitsu said that the safe recharge time is just under 29 hours.

"It should be fine." Uzume jumped off the rails and walked over to us. "I think the timer is out now and even if it wasn't, it's so little that at this point any damage we suffer from using it will be minimal."

"Yea, don't worry." Beni smacked her fist into her hand. "We got this."

"We should really get watches…" Haihane muttered, absentmindedly scratching her head with her clawed hand. "Oww."

Beni sighed and reached for a bandage in her small med kit that she always carried on her belt. Haihane, due to her claws, couldn't be trusted to bandage anyone and Kara didn't like applying first aid. As I said, I was quite surprised that she was as proficient in it as she was. And I…I don't know, I just never got around to it. So the designated medic of our little squad was Beni who mostly treated scratches and the like and occasionally kept a target alive while we tortured information out of them.

"Let me." Uzume waved her hand and a silk band coiled itself around Haihane's head, bandaging her scalp.

"Oh thank god, someone else can be the medic now!" Beni practically jumped in joy around confused Uzume. Beni might not be breaking down in hysterics every time she had to kill anymore but she still absolutely hated dealing with injured people. Which is why most of the time the first thing she did was gag the person she was administering first aid to and then start working. Of course, she didn't have to do that for us as we could handle the pain – I and Kara could ignore it by sheer will while Haihane did it by pure habit. I mean, once you get hurt enough times you build a higher pain tolerance and Haihane scratched herself a lot. Perhaps not so much anymore, but there were cases in her early days of training when she'd heavily injure herself accidentally. Hell, I think if it wasn't for our regenerative properties, she'd be heavily scarred at best and dead at worst.

"Whatever, we should do what we came here for." Kara rolled her eyes in exasperation at the dance of happiness Beni was performing. "Chiho, kiss whoever is assigned for destruction so Rei can swap you and go to sleep already."

"A-alright." Chiho glanced at me with worry before she grabbed an unsuspecting victim and kissed her, initiating the Norito.

"So how did it feel to be the one to initiate a kiss?" I grinned even as I reached over and swapped her to the Spirit Realm.

"It was…" Chiho glanced at the heavily blushing Sekirei she just kissed. "Nice. I should do this more often."

"Come on, let's go." Haihane sighed, disappointed that she couldn't do widespread destruction unlike her teammates for the fight.

* * *

><p>"You!"<p>

"Lady Karasuba!"

"Eh?"

"What the hell, I thought there were only 3 Sekirei allowed!"

"Tch, so the Arbiters is not above cheating?" Izumi sighed. "How ironic."

"Shut up and let me sleep!" I opened an eye, having dozed off while we were walking down the stairs and glared at those before me. "We are merely watching anyway, can't you see?"

Apparently, during my small nap which somewhat refreshed me as I no longer had the urge to drop dead and sleep, – I still wanted to sleep by the way - we ended up beneath a major part of the intersection, the concrete paths criss-crossing above us, blocking out the sky completely. Thankfully, even with the fog, the surrounding lights were enough to illuminate the surroundings. It was an odd design that Minaka set up truth be told. Dead skyscrapers surrounding a dome of fog filled with lights on the inside. I couldn't figure out what was the point of this though, why bother with the fog at all?

Facing us were our opponents for the night and after taking a closer look I couldn't help but groan. After glancing at Kara's expression I could see that she wasn't amused in the slightest with the set up. Seriously, if this was a Battle Royale we are screwed, even if we massacre our opposition as planned, Takami will have our heads afterwards.

So, facing us was Minato, looking quite decent for once in an open black jacket with a gray shirt and pants. Not bad for trying to blend in with the surroundings, he must've done his research on where we would be fighting. Or, more likely, Matsu did the research for him and forced him to dress like so.

Anyhow, he brought with him Tsukiumi, no surprise here I bet she'd kill him if he dared to leave her behind on a fight like this. Smiling beside him was Musubi who was waving at Kara. She looked…stronger somehow. I am not sure how or why I felt it, but I could feel a presence from her now, sort of a passive aura. Unlike Kara who has to call up her aura or Miya who suppresses it by default, Musubi's was constantly active putting me on edge. Although she might not have control over it yet which would explain why I couldn't feel her earlier in the inn but here on the battlefield I could.

Speaking of presences and auras, I surveyed the final member of their group the longest. It would seem that after recovering from the injuries I gave her, Yashima changed quite a bit. She grew more…calmer? More serious perhaps and a bit more confident as well. Compared to Tsukiumi who fidgeted, her water blade at the ready, or Musubi who was practically shaking with excitement, Yashima was the paramount of calmness.

She also seemed to have gotten some armour from somewhere which was a surprise. I think more and more Sekirei are beginning to realize that common clothing is hardly something they should trust to protect them. Still, her choice in armour was rather thin, as if she was missing pieces or something. Gauntlets, vambraces, steel greaves and a cuirass with what looked like a thick sweater beneath for cushioning. Combined with the massive hammer she carried with ease, she looked rather odd. Still, from what I can see, her armour definitely protects her front and I guess she'll play the frontal fighter role to lock down her opponent.

Turning to the right, I surveyed the fighters Higa brought with him and frowned. Where was Toyotama? She's his strongest fighter and the commander of his forces, shouldn't she be here, with him? Where was Ichiya, another elite fighter of his? Instead he had a pretty girl in a dress who looked at Tsukiumi with anger, another girl with short black hair who wore a bizarre mixture of a short white top with a tie, bloomers, long black gloves and equally long black stockings. Perhaps not on the level of the stripper look Toyotama and Ichiya wear but somewhere close. Beside her stood a young woman with long blond hair in a far more modest outfit with a sleeveless shirt and a skirt. That being said, her bust size made her shirt look frankly outrageous. Much like the black haired girl standing beside her, she also wore long gloves and stockings but hers were white.

All in all, I was not impressed. At all. None of 3 Sekirei Higa brought with him had a weapon nor did they look like they were strong. Of course, looks can be misleading and all of that, I mean look at Beni. She prances about in a red bodysuit that leaves little to imagination and looks practically harmless, especially with her long side ponytail of pink hair. She wears the Disciplinary Squad haori over top in normal situations for decency but in combat she takes it off to avoid shredding it by accident. Combined with her petite body and general small size, only hard core paranoid people would suspect her capable of leveling entire skyscrapers with a single blow.

I guess I'll have to wait and see, I mean, I can do nothing else, right?

"TESTING! HELLO EVERYONE!" We all cringed as suddenly Minaka's voice was everywhere, blasting out of speakers that littered the place. "It seems like all contestants have arrived!"

"So…loud." Haihane glared at the nearest speaker and with a flick of her wrist it was suddenly shredded into pieces of metal and sparks.

"AND NOW!" Minaka continued, still as loud. "IT'S TIME TO START THE THIRD MATCH! THIS IS A BATTLE ROYALE AND THE FINAL TEAM STANDING WILL RECEIVE THE THIRD JINKI!"

It was a pity that the White Clown's loud voice prevented me from hearing what Minato was talking to his Sekirei about. Final plans perhaps? Higa was doing the same slightly away, talking to the girl in the dress in low tones about something, not taking a chance of being overheard at all. What a pity, it's always better to know of your opposition's plans, I mused as I shifted slightly in Kara's arms making myself more comfortable. Kara merely glanced at me before looking back at the scene before us. I think the set is prepared, the actors are ready…

"NOW," Minaka carried on with his rant. "LET THE GLORIOUS COMBAT BEGIN!"

And with these simple words, chaos reigned. The moment Minaka finished, Yashima suddenly slammed her hammer into the ground, cracking the street open and raising a huge cloud of dust that prevented us from seeing them. Before we had a chance to so much as wonder what that was about, a dulled flash of light from inside the cloud drew our attention.

"That's a-" Chiho exclaimed with her eyes going wide before she was interrupted.

"These are the fists of my pledge," Musubi's voice echoed through the clearing as Higa was promptly evacuated by his Sekirei while Uzume, Haihane and Beni stood at the ready. "Crush the catastrophe before my Ashikabi!"

"Don't." Kara ordered Uzume who drew her bow and was about to fire into the dust cloud blindly. "You might hit Minato."

"Fine…" The veil Sekirei sighed as she lowered her bow, the lance like arrow still knocked and ready.

"Here I go!" We stared with open mouths as Musubi jumped about a hundred meters into the air, her poor Ashikabi trailing behind her like a rag doll, and then smashed into the intersection with the might of a fallen star. "Bear Meteor!"

"Damn it!" Beni growled as she jumped away to dodge the complicated piece of human road building that turned into rubble. "That was our plan!"

"Great, now we can't see anything." Haihane coughed, her claw covering her mouth as she tried to avoid breathing in the ton of dust that was currently in the air. We thought the mist around the junction and the dust cloud raised by Yashima was bad? Well, having a gigantic intersection turn into dust and rubble in a matter of seconds wasn't great for health either.

"Where are they?" Uzume looked around, her veils circling her, ready to spear anything that so much as twitches at their owner. "I can't see anything."

"You don't need to see." Kara rolled her eyes. "Go out there and destroy them already."

"Ah, don't forget!" Chiho hurriedly added. "Don't terminate anyone!"

"Alright, I'll try." Uzume smiled before turning to Haihane and Beni. "Cover me, I am going to-"

A faint whistle attracted our attention and suddenly Haihane dashed in front of Uzume to parry an incredibly fast moving disk that flew straight through our Ashikabi and threatened to slice Uzume. A split second later she deflected another and then sliced the third one into pieces of broken metal, her claw glowing gray for a split second.

"Who's there?" Beni looked at the direction the disks came from warily, unable to see anything. "Show yourself!"  
>"Che! What a cheating ability you have, number 51." One of Higa's Sekirei, the girl in the dress, walked out from behind a half demolished pillar. "I am number 101, Oriha! I'll have you die for my master!"<p>

"It works to protect my Ashikabi from certain cheaters." I shrugged in Kara's arms as I nonchalantly rebuked the girl who just tried to slice Chiho to bits.

"Indeed." Higa said as he walked out of the dust cloud with his 2 Sekirei at his side, their stances tense and ready. "I never really expected anything else from you Rei."

"Oh?" Beni cracked her knuckles with a vicious smile. "Attacking us first? Looks like you got a death wish."

"To be honest we didn't know who we were attacking." Higa admitted without battling an eyelash. "It's a bit hard to see in this dust cloud, don't you agree?"

"It doesn't matter, now I'll-" Haihane suddenly spun again and hit Uzume, throwing her out of the way as she parried a gigantic hammer. Or tried to parry anyway, Yashima's empowered hammer didn't even notice her trying to resist and smashed her knee deep into the cement. Haihane was never one for strength; she was agile and fast but hardly strong.

"Fuuck!" Haihane roared as she sliced outwards, the hammer that still glowed blue was pushed back by gray wind, allowing Haihane to roll out of the crater before the giant weapon crashed down again, this time cracking the street all the way down to the sewers.

"Haihane!" Chiho called out in great concern as she looked at her bleeding Sekirei who, quite frankly, looked like shit. Haihane only narrowly managed to avoid getting smashed into a giant blood pancake and the fact that she took a hammer weighing a ton to the face was quite serious.

"I-" Haihane panted, blood dripping down her face as she struggled to stand, swaying hard. "I am fine."

"Pull back." Kara ordered before turning to Uzume. "Now would be a good time."

"R-right!" Uzume flinched at the dark aura Kara momentarily revealed which also distracted everyone else as they stared in horror at the woman holding me.

"Enshroud the world!" Uzume chanted with great speed even as she leapt away from us, her shout bringing the attention of everyone else as they scrambled to stop her, realizing what she was trying to do.

"The Will of my Ashikabi!" Uzume called out, briefly dodging a water bullet from Tsukiumi who stood somewhere nearby but out of our sight. Yashima tried to charge her but had to dodge when Haihane sliced at her, her wind claws allowing her to hit her opponent from 5 meters away. Beni in the meanwhile, grabbed a big piece of rubble and threw in Higa's general direction, forcing his Sekirei to work together to smash it before it turned their Ashikabi into paste. All of this bought enough time for Uzume's cocoon come into play and at that point, Tsukiumi's attempts to destroy it were fruitless. For each veil she pierced and destroyed, there were hundreds beneath and the cocoon was rapidly growing, already reaching the tip of the ruined intersection.

Surprisingly, the intersection itself suffered fairly low damage. The center was completely demolished but everything else still stood. That was about to rectified though as the cocoon grew to size of a 3 story building and didn't show any signs of stopping. At this point, the dust cloud cleared up enough for us to finally see Tsukiumi who was only meters away from Yashima who pulled back from fighting Haihane. Haihane drew back behind Beni's back who was gently tossing a huge boulder about 10 times her size up and down, an angry red aura around her. Higa's Sekirei also looked at her with wary eyes, knowing that if provoked, that giant boulder was going to fly in their direction and they weren't sure they'll be able to stop this much bigger one in time.

"Come on." Kara turned and motioned for Chiho to follow. "We might be safe, but it'll be hard to watch anything here in a few seconds from now."

Chiho glanced at her Sekirei for a second, but seeing Haihane give her a cheery smile and wave – even as she leaned on Beni for support – decided to trust her Sekirei and walk with us.


	46. Gate:Show

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>We reached about 10 meters or so away from the damaged intersection before Kara decided that this was a good place to oversee the situation without getting buried in too much rubble. Turning, she sat down on the ground with me still in her lap and prepared to enjoy the show. Chiho tried to sit on a piece of rubble only to fall through it with a surprised yelp. Ah, the problem with sitting in Spirit Realm was that couldn't actually sit on Living Realm objects. And the mechanics of sitting – and standing for that matter – were quite shifty honestly. That being said, sitting or standing on the floor was always a solid choice and almost always worked. I could also suspend myself in mid-air to mimic sitting while in Spirit Realm due to the funky way physics worked – or rather didn't – in Spirit Realm with regard to Living Realm but it required much training before I could do subconsciously. Kara for example never bothered to learn it and simply sits on the floor whenever in Spirit Realm. Chiho, of course, didn't have said training and thus couldn't mimic sitting on the rubble so she sat down on the ground with us.<p>

I yawned and forced myself to pay attention to what was going on before us, sleep will have to wait, this was important.

"And we are back!" Musubi landed beside Tsukiumi and Yashima out of nowhere.

"Where's Minato?" Yashima turned to her immediately, her eyes searching for any sign of her Ashikabi.

"He's right…here?" Musubi made a grasping motion with her right hand with a confused expression before turning around to look behind her. Finding nothing, her face adopted a look of horror and she turned deathly pale "Uwah! Minato!"

"Y-you lost our Ashikabi!?" Tsukiumi screeched furiously, her face just as pale as Musubi's.

"How the hell did you do that?" Beni asked in disbelief, her surprise so great that she even stopped tossing that big boulder up and down. Even Higa lost his calm expression and stared with tangible surprise at this unexpected turn of events.

"Uwah! Lord Minato! Minato!" Musubi seemed hysterical as she started calling out for her Ashikabi desperately.

"Don't worry Chiho." I reached over and petted the shocked girl. "We'll never lose you, we can sense you."

"Uhm, okay…" Chiho gave me a half smile before turning back to the unwinding tragedy. Or was it a comedy? Honestly, how can a Sekirei lose their Ashikabi by accident when all we have to do is feel our bond for their location?

"Shut up." Yashima smacked Musubi on her head, the metal gauntlet eliciting an 'oww' from her sister Sekirei, and told her with absolute certainty. "We aren't dead so Minato is still alive we'll just-"

Whatever she wanted to say was drowned out in a triumphant screech that shattered all nearby glass and made everyone close wince in pain. We all looked around just in time to see a gargantuan 10 floor tall snow white spider finish crawling out of its cocoon. The monstrous creature set out its legs to stabilize herself, creating holes in the concrete as it cracked under the weight.

"What. The. Fuck." Higa said clearly in a calm voice as he stood tall before the monstrosity towering over Junction, its many black eyes assessing the situation. He may have sounded and looked calm but his nervously clenched hands and wide eyes told a different story. His Sekirei weren't that far behind their Ashikabi as they stared at the spider with obvious fear. Yashima, Tsukiumi and even Musubi all looked at their opponent with mouths agape, forgetting their previous problem momentarily.

"Uzume!" The aforementioned audience flinched as the spider turned to Beni who grabbed Haihane and lifted her up in a gentle carry. "I am going to go fix Haihane and I am leaving the fight to you. Enjoy!"

"Th-that's Uzume!?" Tsukiumi exclaimed incredulously as the massive white spider nodded and turned back to face them.

"Hey!" Yashima recovered and turned to Higa. "We need to work together to bring that thing down."

"What?" Tsukiumi cried out in ire. "We don't need their help against some spider! Water Celebration!"

"Kujou, Oriha, Oshino." Higa said loudly, practically yelling to be heard over the annoyed chitter of the spider which, albeit a little wet, was not injured at all from the water cannon ball that hit it. "We are allies with Sahashi's Sekirei until that thing is dealt with."

"Alright!" Oriha stepped forward, a dozen razor sharp disks beginning to spin in orbit around her at high speeds, turning into whirling chainsaws of destruction. "Take this!"

3 of her disks flew and sliced into the nearest leg, the silk making up the giant construct giving way easily under the assault of the disks that hacked through it like chainsaws. Uzume screeched again but this time it was in anger. Nonetheless, the sound attack again shattered whatever glass was in range and forced everyone else to clutch their ears in pain.

"Scatter!" Higa's decently dressed Sekirei with massive chest called out and leapt away with Higa in her arms. Her allies jumped away instantly as well, not questioning her decision at all. Hmm, it would seem that she is the team leader in this situation. "Oriha, left 3 steps, Oshina, sharp weapons only!"

I watched in surprise as Uzume's giant limb hit the spot they just vacated and then as Oriha followed her leader's command instantly to narrowly avoid a falling segment of the Junction that otherwise would've turned her into a massive blood stain. Meanwhile, the newly identified Oshino pulled out a see through broadsword, that looked like it was made out of clear glass, out of nowhere and hacked at Chiho's leg just as it began to rise out of the crater it made. I felt my eyebrows climb upwards as the broadsword bit through a considerable part of the leg and then shattered into fading particles as if I imagined the whole thing. Except the wound stayed so there was no way I imagined this Oshina creating an imaginary sword and inflicting real damage with it. In fact, Oshino, without so much as battering an eyelash, slashed at Uzume's leg with 2 more longswords she made out of nothing into the legs and cut off a claw before the swords broke and vanished once more.

Okay, I revise my decision on their weakness. Higa brought a genuinely strong team to the fight. A Sekirei that controls the battlefield and can predict her enemy's movements, a Sekirei that can create single use imaginary weapons that deal actual damage and a Sekirei with several dozen chainsaws of death flying about; this team is going to be hard to beat. Especially considering they had Minato's team helping them. Minato's Sekirei denounced Kojou's ordering them about however, so the teamwork between the 2 teams might be a bit sketchy.

All in all thought, I'd say Uzume was more fooling around rather than really fighting her opponents. There was none of that blindingly fast speed or agility she showed on the island and she barely used her strength that she could crush small mountains with. In fact, her strikes were quite weak and most of the damage she did was actually caused by the sheer weight of the construct rather than it's might. Hmm, I thought, perhaps Chiho's order not to deactivate our opponents might have little to do with Uzume's true motive.

"Chiho," I called out, startling the girl who focused all of her attention on the fight. "How are you holding up?"

"Eh?" Chiho took a moment to feel herself, her face gaining a cute frown of concentration. "I am fine. Great actually, there is a little bit of heat in my chest but that's it."

"I see." Kara said simply, understanding the implications instantly. Uzume was moving like a sluggish drunkard because she was trying to limit the stress her Norito was inflicting on Chiho. Surprisingly, she was successful as they have been fighting for 5 minutes now and our Ashikabi was completely fine. Still, she said nothing else, content with the situation like me for now.

The first time the 6 Sekirei fighting Uzume destroyed one of her legs, they cheered. Then their cheers turned in cries of frustration, angry curses and calls of cheating when Uzume regenerated her damaged limb in a matter of seconds while the old piece broke apart into a pile of silk; the energy giving it form gone. And so it turned into a stalemate. They couldn't do anything that would do lasting damage and Uzume moved too slowly to catch them.

Over the duration of the fight, my respect for Kujou grew. Plan after plan she created on the spot and guided her team through them. Even Minato's Sekirei grudgingly followed her lead now. Granted, none of the plans did any real damage to Uzume but I particularly liked the one where they dropped a skyscraper – damaged in the fighting – on her. That was the closest they got to defeating her and if it wasn't for Uzume revealing one of her cards – her incredible speed – they would've succeeded.

Currently, from what I understood, they were trying to get Uzume to stand still long enough to drop another skyscraper on her and bury her. Uzume was having none of that however and even picked up speed to avoid them from boxing her in.

Meanwhile, the 6 Sekirei fighting her were getting quite tired. Although Tsukiumi was the strongest present, she had to pour extra power into her water attacks to concentrate and pressurise them enough to get past Uzume's passive resistance to water. I bet Tsukiumi was secretly wishing she had Homura's power right now so that she could burn Uzume to a crisp. True, from what I understood silk didn't quite burn well, but considering I've just seen Homura burn concrete – which I still think isn't even capable of burning – I think he can turn Uzume to ash regardless of the minor fire resistance silk has. Speaking of which, never have Uzume fight Homura, at least, not alone. Wouldn't want her to get completely obliterated after all.

That being said, Tsukiumi was also the one doing the most damage to Uzume, together with Oriha. Her pressurized water drilled into Uzume's body frequently, aggravating the gigantic spider to no end. Oriha, in the meanwhile, was focusing her disks on Uzume's eyes. Although she could to significant damage to the body with her flying chainsaws she grew bored of watching everything she did regenerate and instead went for an obvious weak spot. After losing a couple eyes to the whirling disks of death, Uzume not only demonstrated that she could morph her body on the fly by growing thick eyelids on her eyes but she also now went solely after Oriha, determined to get revenge.

This was particularly detrimental to Kujou who now sat, clutching her head in pain, a thin trail of blood trickling from her nose. As Uzume grew more and more focused on squishing Oriha into paste, Kujou had to think harder and faster to figure out a way to keep her teammate alive constantly. In fact, if this goes on, I wouldn't be surprised if she passes out from the stress.

I'll have to hand it to the busty Sekirei though; she was a superb addition to any team. Being able to foresee a move before the enemy does it and being able to create plans around it on the fly were extremely good abilities. It was unfortunate that out of 5 Sekirei under her command, only Tsukiumi was actually useful. Oriha was currently doing everything she could to stay alive while Yashima, Musubi and Oshina did not have the reach to do anything aside from attacking Uzume's legs. Useful for slowing her down but that was about it. Their participation in the fight was literally limited to being annoying distractions. Musubi tried running up Uzume's leg to reach her body and fight it but after getting nearly impaled by almost a hundred instant silk spikes that grew throughout the leg like deadly hair parodies, that particular option was abandoned.

"Oww, my head…" We all turned to see what we earlier took as a bundle of dusty rags nearby turnover and become an equally dusty Minato who clutched at his bleeding head in obvious pain. "Where am I?"

"Welcome to Hell." I called out with a grin at how startled he became after hearing my voice. "How shall we serve you? Boiled alive, fried in pieces, served raw? Current favourite is skinned and roasted."

"Rei!" Chiho slapped my forearm, scandalized, even as Kara grinned. "Don't worry, she's joking. We won't harm you."

"R-right-" He suddenly ducked, a fairly large boulder flying dangerously nearby. Upon looking up again, he froze in shock, his eyes wide and mouth open as he stared at Uzume. The Sekirei in question was currently excavating a skyscraper, trying to get Oriha who dashed into it moments prior.

"What the hell is that thing!?" He finally came to and yelled, pointing at the gargantuan creature that the other Sekirei were trying to prevent from rapidly disassembling skyscraper. So far they didn't seem to have any luck as Uzume was very determined to get the pest that blinded a couple of her eyes. It would seem that her eyes truly were her weak point; I could see that they were healing but far slower than any other part of her body.

"Oh calm down." I turned to look at Haihane who snuck in with Beni some time earlier. The bandaged Sekirei was sporting a fair amount of new bandages and looked quite happy to just lie on the ground and not move at all.

"It's just Uzume having a bit of fun." Beni said absentmindedly as she slit the bandages around Haihane's chest and turned her charge on her side, eliciting a groan of protest. "Shut up, you got damaged ribs. Stay like this until we can get you to a hospital."

"You just had to expose me for everyone to see." Haihane muttered as she adjusted her haori to cover up her exposed chest. "And why can't I lie on my back, this hurts."

"If you didn't have those huge breasts of yours, you damn cow," Beni huffed as she continued to look over Haihane. "You might've."

"Tch, you're just jealo-oww, oww, oww!" Haihane winced and continued in a much more even tone. "Sorry, never mind."

"A-aren't you concerned for Uzume?" Minato didn't seem to know what surprised him more, that Uzume was currently fighting 6 versus 1 or that we were so relaxed about it.

"If you used those eyes of yours for their intended purpose," Kara replied snidely. "You'll see that Uzume is toying around with them."

"Wha-"

"Without their Ashikabi, your Sekirei don't stand a chance." Haihane said vindictively, taking pleasure at the fear on Minato's face. "Such a pity that their Ashikabi is a coward that hides away from combat when even Higa is participating."

We all looked over to see Kujou somehow ending up in Higa's lap as he gently wetted her feverish face with a wet cloth. Seems like it wasn't just me who noticed that Kujou was overheating from using her power too much.

"Damn it! You are right!" Minato admitted with a frown before standing up and beginning to limp-run over to the battle. "They need me!"


	47. Gate:Finale

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

It would seem that, quite unfortunately, my buffer of chapters ran out. As of after this chapter, all other chapters will come out whenever they are done.

In the meanwhile, I hope you review, it would be interesting to see what you think of the story, the characters, the plot so far.

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><p>Before he could finish his 5th step, a low groan that seemed to originate from the very ground itself caught our attention. Minato stopped and stared in shock as the skyscraper Uzume was demolishing finally had enough. Uzume must've destroyed some vital support inside the giant building and it began to teeter, leaning forward, intent on burying the entire Junction – or what was left of it – in rubble. Unlike the first skyscraper, which still partially stood, this one fell in its entirety, leaving nothing but a small mountain of rubble in its wake. It was slow at first, but accelerated rapidly, leaving little time to get out of the way.<p>

Uzume and those fighting her scrambled away, their Sekirei speed allowing them to get out of the impact zone in time, and Higa picked up Kujou in a bride carry and sprinted off. This surprised me greatly as I didn't think that such a thin, slender man could have so much strength and speed. Minato on the other hand had nowhere to run, the skyscraper may miss landing on him directly but the rubble generated by the impact will most likely shred the young man.

"Benitsubasa." Kara said calmly, even lazily, not even bothering to look at my student.

"Tch." Beni huffed but sprinted over to Minato, grabbing him and lugging the taller male over her shoulder. A dark red aura enveloped them even as Beni began to run heavily, building up a Shock Charge. A moment later the skyscraper crashed, sending a gigantic wave of dust and rubble to completely cover the Junction. Honestly, I think the worst thing about the collapse wasn't the rubble but the noise generated by it. I very much appreciated the fact that sound behaved extremely odd when transitioning from Living Realm to Spirit Realm and vice versa. On one hand, it seemed to travel much farther than it should, letting us hear things that were generally out of our reach. On the other hand, the volume and sheer amount of said sound seemed…muted. And in a weird sense too, it was like the total volume and total amount had a cap on it as to how much can pass between the realms at a single point in time, meaning that in a case like right now, the countless number of impacts were…muted. Difficult to explain the feeling but hey, I'll toss the idea to experiment on it to Akitsu later, for now I am just happy that it prevented us from losing our hearing, even if for a little bit.

A couple seconds after objects stopped flying through the air and the rubble calmed down, we moved up to the surface of the new rubble. Well, although I can't see shit, I think it can be safely said that the Chuuou Junction officially doesn't exist anymore. Moments after this thought, a faint red glow grew in the dust before us and within a couple seconds a disgruntled Beni showed up as she stopped before us and tossed down her luggage.

"Oww." Minato stood up shakily and glanced around at the rubble and dust that were now everywhere. "Thanks for saving me."

"U-uhm," Chiho stuttered, her face red as she looked away from Minato. "C-could you wear something please?"

"Eh?" The young man looked down before blushing tomato red and ducking hide behind a broken and twisted piece of metal which looked like it used to a fridge mere minutes ago. Seeing as it was a new addition to the cataclysmic landscape around us, I'd wager it came from one of the rooms of the newly demolished skyscraper.

The reason for this embarrassing – for Chiho and Minato, we didn't particularly care having long desensitized ourselves to naked flesh, especially blood covered naked flesh but I digress – situation was that, much to Beni's dismay, normal clothes can't handle her power. They shred and practically disintegrate under the destructive shock nature of her power in a matter of seconds. This caused quite a few dozen of highly embarrassing situations for Beni. In fact, I have suspicions that Beni terminated everyone with extreme prejudice whenever something like this happened not because we weren't supposed to leave no one alive but because they dared to see her naked. Eh, whatever works I guess, we got the missions done. Anyway, she was so happy when Akitsu and Takami finally devised a nanoweave suit that is immune to her power that she literally cried tears of happiness as she hugged the hell out of her 2 saviours.

Of course, Minato's clothes were not a bodysuit that costs like a modern day destroyer to make according to Akitsu. So when exposed to Beni's power they performed exactly as expected and exactly the same way as all previous clothes did before Beni got the aforementioned suit. They got shredded and partially disintegrated into scrap pieces of cloth that easily slid off of Minato's body. Thankfully, he kept his underwear which, although extremely faded and deteriorated, still held firm enough to preserve a little bit of modesty.

Lucky guy, I could count the number of times Beni's underwear didn't meet the same fate as the rest of her clothes after being exposed to her power on the fingers of 1 hand. However, he still caused discomfort to our Ashikabi so, with a weary sigh, I shifted in Kara's arms to take off my haori. It might be weathered, beaten and bloody but it sure as hell beat strutting about naked. After a quick visit to the Living Realm and back, Minato gratefully put on the haori, the size difference between us letting him wear it like a loose trench coat.

Modesty preserved, we now had a chance to look around as the dust finally began to settle. The first thing we saw was the gargantuan spider that was Uzume. It was really difficult to miss the 10 story high white spider that slowly scanned the area, looking for its missing prey. Considering the entire Junction area, something along the lines of a football field, was now a jumbled mess of rock and twisted metal, finding something specific that was hiding from you was quite difficult. The Sekirei facing off Uzume were probably hiding and regrouping right now, trying to figure out what to do.

A crunch of rock brought our attention to our left and slightly behind as we watched Higa stumble out of the thinning dust cloud with Kujou still in his arms, mere meters away from us. The young man looked like crap; his expensive suit spotted multiple rips and even a dribble of blood, not to mention the dust that was everywhere which colored his hair and face grey, making him look decades older. He was panting, a slow dribble of blood dripped from his left temple down his face and onto his suit.

The Sekirei he carried looked barely lucid, her face still extremely red and I could even see a faint heat wave emanate from her core. I think that at this point, Kujou was one step in the termination zone, a little push and she'll terminate herself to prevent damage to her Tama. In fact, I think it's only her will that keeps her alive at this point, she has severely overused her power in this fight.

"You…" Higa rasped, staring at Minato in surprise that quickly turned to furious anger. "You bastard, where the fuck were you?"

Higa stumbled and fell to his knees, the sharp rocks eliciting several choice swears from the man even as he clutched his Sekirei to his chest.

"I-I fell and hit my head when Musubi let me go by accident." Minato licked his dry lips nervously before continuing. "I tried to get back but then a skyscraper almost fell on me."

"Tch." Higa sneered even as he pulled out a water bottle from an inner pocket of his suit and gently wetted Kujou's lips with the liquid, drawing a sigh of relief from the Sekirei. "I likely story, as expected from someone like you."

"It's true." Chiho intervened into the conversation. "He just came to a couple minutes ago just in time for the skyscraper to fall."

"And he decided to take refuge amongst his enemies." Higa looked at Minato as if he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. "Seriously? I mean, sure this is the Disciplinary Squad but what if they were someone else? Or what if they decided that they could cause an 'accident' to happen with you?"

"Hey!" Chiho narrowed her brows at Higa's audacity. "We are the Arbiters for a reason! We make sure the rules are followed, we don't break them ourselves!"

"…" Higa sighed and then looked back at Minato's confused expression. "What? Don't you know what happens when an Ashikabi dies?"

"Erm, no?" Minato scratched his head in embracement causing everyone else to stare at him in surprise. "I've never actually asked…"

"There's a reason we went so far to come here and protect Chiho, even though I was practically dying of exhaustion." I remarked, still surprised. I'd have thought that Takehito or Miya or hell, even Matsu would've told him! "I mean, sure we could've let Uzume, Haihane and Beni protect her but we came anyway. Why?"

"If an Ashikabi dies, so do all of his Sekirei." Higa smiled wickedly at Minato's horrified expression. "And here you are, acting without any care at all. Not understanding that your death will cause the instant death of all of your Sekirei."

"Damn it, Kujou." Higa turned his attention back to the Sekirei still in his arms and gently gave her a bit more water. "Don't you dare die on me! I order you to survive, as your Master, as your Ashikabi. You hear me?"

"Here." Beni sighed as she took out a pill from her medical pouch and offered it to Higa. "This is a Tama stabilizer. Useful for whenever a Tama is starting to go out of control like here. She stressed her core far too much and it's destabilizing now."

"You are helping me?" Higa asked even as he took the pill. "Why?"

"Not you." Kara replied with a twist of her lips. "The Disciplinary Squad exists to protect the Sekirei. That, and Chiho here is quite adamant that we don't terminate any Sekirei."

"It's true." Chiho nodded solemnly at Higa's silent question. "I don't want any Sekirei to die, not if I can help it."

"That and…" Chiho hesitated slightly before continuing. "Takami told me what happens to the Ashikabi if their Sekirei dies."

Higa looked at her, his eyes dull, clearly not quite all there.

"Yes," He looked quite weary as he quietly acknowledged what Chiho said. "Thank you."

"W-wait." Minato drew attention of us all, Higa excluded as he was busy getting the busty Sekirei in his arms to swallow the pill. "What happens to Ashikabi if a Sekirei dies?"

"The bond is a 2-way street." Kara replied, her features serious. "Breaking it in either way is extremely harmful for everyone involved. Everyone still alive that is."

"You lost one, didn't you?" Haihane said, breaking her silence, as she addressed Higa.

"Yes." Higa closed his eyes, his hands tightening around Kujou. "I've lost a Sekirei in a fight in the North."

"You look much better than those Ashikabi that I've seen lose a Sekirei." I looked over Higa. "Is it perhaps because you have so many?"

"Strange, isn't it?" Kara mused, her eyes on the silent Ashikabi before us. "That so many of our kin would pursue this man. I honestly do not see anything worthy in him."

"I don't know why you Sekirei kept coming to me." Higa opened his eyes wearily. "One after another, Sekirei came to me to get wings, claiming that they were my destined ones."

"I…I should hate your kind for doing this to me." Higa sighed bitterly. "For having me involved in this stupid game when I am doing all I can to keep the company that generations of Izumi have put their lives into intact. For forcing me to live with the fear that you'll die and I'll suffer another backlash of the bond breaking."

"But…" He raised his right hand to his face, staring at a white ring with a large amethyst in it. "I can't. She…they...they make me feel alive. For the first time in years."

"And I'll do anything to stay this way." He gently lowered Kujou on the ground and covered her with a jacket he took off, making sure she was warm from this night. He then glanced at Minato with a serious expression. "You might merely coast along, all of your achievement spoon fed to you by your parents but I…I will go out there and I will fight to the end to end MBI and this wretched plan. You said you don't want to ally with me, fine. Stay out of my way."

"I am going back into the fight because my Sekirei are worth it." He stood up and turned in a seemingly random direction, his eyes focused on something we couldn't see before adding more in a much softer tone. "Because they think I am worth it."

"L-Lord Higa!" A couple shapes appeared in the darkness and rushed over to Higa. "You're alright!"

We looked on as a bloody Oriha stopped before Higa and knelt before him, her dress in shreds that barely covered anything. Her disks, a couple dozen of beaten and wobbly things, floated around her, hanging near her back. Beside her knelt Oshina, looking far better than her sister Sekirei but also weary and sporting quite a few bloody scratches throughout her body.

"Rise." Higa said with conviction and power in his voice like a king addressing his noble knights. "The fight is not yet over. We must win this so we can all go back."

"Yes Master!" Oriha stood up in a hurry but swayed when her legs wobbled, her injuries catching up to her. Before she could fall though, Higa saved her. "M-master but I…you'll get dirty!"

Higa coughed and suddenly began laughing quietly. Oshina soon joined in and then even the embarrassed Sekirei began giggling softly, her gentle voice joining in.

"Beautiful…" I turned to see Chiho sniffle, tears pouring down her face.

"Minato!" We turned to see Minato get bowled over by 3 Sekirei who moved so fast that they would've seemed like blurs to a normal human. The poor man didn't even get a chance to so much as finish raising his eyebrows in surprise before he ended up on the ground, buried by 3 bodies. I snickered at the fact that one of those bodies was the partially armoured Yashima and knowing the general luck of this world I bet one of those armour pieces hit something important.

"You are alive!" Musubi sobbed as she clutched his right arm, the only part of his body she could grab. "I am sorry, I am so sorry!"

"Y-yea, I-" Was all he could say before Yashima grabbed him by the collar of the haori and kissed him passionately on the spot, her bright blue wings flooding the small clearing.

"You are fine…" Yashima said softly after letting him go and looking at him in the eyes briefly before kissing him once more.

"H-hey!" Tsukiumi narrowed her ocean blue eyes at this usurpation as she straddled his left arm. "G-give others a chance too! I-I w-want to kiss him too!"

However, before either of the 2 had a chance to answer, an irritated chitter made half the people present break out in cold sweat. We all looked up to see an annoyed Uzume stare at us, her gigantic spider face mere meters away from us. Huh, how could I understand that Uzume was annoyed? I mean…spiders can't make faces…can they? Whatever, this is yet another thing that will go into 'I'll think about this sometime later, maybe' box.

Meanwhile, Uzume returned to her previous position and instead raised her 2 frontal legs in a slow, deliberate manner, allowing her opponents to take a wild guess at what's going to happen next. Seeing a gigantic spider show you that it's about to crush you is quite intimidating. Strangely, unlike her sister Sekirei, Yashima didn't freeze in fear but rather in thought as she contemplated something before resolutely nodding.

"If I force her to stand still, can you finish that thing off?" She asked Higa's Sekirei as she quickly jumped up and grabbed her massive hammer. Behind her, Tsukiumi grabbed Minato, not trusting him to Musubi who took a stance beside Yashima. Higa in the meanwhile gently picked up Kujou and prepared to run at a moment's notice. Oshina stood on guard, a massive imaginary zweihander in her arms while Oriha forced her disks to spin once more, what used to be a simple gesture now took quite a bit of effort from the beaten girl.

"Yes! I can finish her off!" Oriha jumped at the opportunity instantly before she looked at Higa and blushed. "T-that is if Master is w-willing…t-to-"

"Right." Yashima took a deep breath and charged after seeing a nod from Higa. "By my Ashikabi's love."

"Thus I pledge," She put on a surprising burst of speed to dodge Uzume's claws as the spider realized that she was about to use a Norito and was trying to prevent it. "The Gravity of our Bond will subdue all who oppose him!"

"Gravity Well!" Yashima cried out as she smashed her hammer, which was like a shining blue star at this point, into the ground slightly before the gargantuan white spider. There was a bright blue, almost white, flash from the impact and we had to look away to avoid the brightness. When we looked back, I could feel my jaw drop from shock.

Spread around the embedded hammer was a large pale blue circle, large enough to encompass Uzume body and parts of her legs. Strangely, there was a tiny circle inside, just large enough for Yashima to stand in, creating a dead zone. In the rest of the circle however, it could be clearly seen that there was a massive amount of pressure on everything caught inside. Rubble shifted and compressed into a single entity and the very air itself condensed down into a thick fog. The sudden change in pressure caused a gigantic vortex to form around the circle as the air tried to equalize the pressure.

The most important part however, was what happened to Uzume. She lay down on her belly upon the rubble, twitching, unable to move. Her legs jittered, trying to get her to stand up but she couldn't, for the pressure was too strong. In fact, I could see her legs repeatedly tear and repair themselves from the stress exerted on them.

"What are you waiting for!?" Yashima scream reached us faintly over the din of her Norito working. "I can't hold her for much longer!"

This seemed to startle Higa into action. He walked over briskly to Oriha who stood, frozen in anticipation, her eyes glistening at the thought of what was about to happen. Higa gently cupped her chin and kissed her looking her straight into her dark grey eyes. Steel wings, made up of what seemed like thousands of tiny moving gears erupted from Oriha's back, stretching out for meters and illuminating the night. I must say, these must be the most unique wings I've seen to date – not that I've seen many. Oriha sighed sadly as Higa slowly leaned out of the kiss and shook her head, her sad look replaced by determination and fire in her eyes. I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Beni, looking at the ever smouldering flame in her pale red eyes. How fascinating, they were nearly the same. Different colors though, whereas Beni's was red like her eyes, Oriha's was silvery which were of a different color than her eyes.

"These are the gears of my Contract." Oriha pointed her hand at Uzume and suddenly dozens if not hundreds of flying disks rose up from the ground and levitated to form 9 massive gears around Oriha. "Slice the enemy of my Ashikabi into nothingness."

"Moon Slasher!" She slashed with her hand down and the gears launched themselves, 1 by 1 in a rapid order in a random fashion at the gigantic spider lying helpless on the ground.

"Uzume!" Chiho stood in panic, worrying that her Sekirei will die from this seemingly inescapable attack.


	48. Gate:Detonation

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Mmm, it's nice to have people create accounts just to review on my story. Makes me feel like it's actually a good one.

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><p>The rapidly spinning gears hacked their way through the powered silk that made up Uzume's body without any sort of resistance whatsoever. So great was their might in fact that some of them buried themselves deep into the concrete, far beyond their height, leaving only ragged holes in their wake. Others, who had more of an angle to them, ricocheted off the rubble behind Uzume and flew in all sorts of angles. I watched as they clove through the skyscrapers, their destabilizing structure making some of the ricochet in random angles inside the buildings, tearing them apart. Some of them even fell to pieces on contact, acting like a flak cannon as razor sharp disks flew everywhere.<p>

Uzume screeched in pain when the first couple disks tore great chunks of her body off before a third disk clove her in 2 when it hit her head. Over the next couple seconds the disks left nothing but a pile of silk in place of what used to be a gigantic spider.

"Yes!" Oriha cried out in relief and promptly passed out, the fight combined with using her Norito completely draining the girl. Oshina caught her before she fell, a gigantic smile on her face as she too, celebrated the fall of the enemy they tried so hard to defeat.

"We did it!" Musubi jumped up and down in joy, forgetting about her own injuries for a moment. In fact, none of those present got away from fighting Uzume without any injuries. Kujou was unconscious and without the pill Beni gave to Higa her prognosis would be unclear at best. Oshina and Oriha were covered in scratches and bruises, Oriha more so than Oshina as she got chased by Uzume for half the fight. Musubi sported several nasty looking tears in her flesh from the spears she barely dodged when trying to climb Uzume. Tsukiumi and Yashima had the least amount of injuries; Tsukiumi had a couple bruises from a few rocks she failed to dodge – hard to when there's dozens of them thrown at you – while Yashima had no injuries to show as she took all the hits on her armour but I bet there's bruising beneath.

"Uzume…" Chiho slowly sank to the ground in shock. I frowned, from what I've seen on the island, this shouldn't be enough to kill Uzume…should it? I mean, when she canceled her form it exploded into silk strands, far finer than the mess of torn chunks lying before us and she was completely fine.

"Feel her, Chiho." I leaned out of Kara's arms and grabbed Chiho by her shoulders, looking into her wild eyes. "Use the bond, you can tell if she's alive."

"I…" Chiho closed her eyes and concentrated before intense relief flooded her face. Huh, I guess I was right, Uzume is still alive. When she gets back here, we need to have a talk. We…well, mostly Chiho, need to know the functions of her Norito so that next time we won't have to worry.

A rumbling sound caught my attention and we all looked over to see the skyscraper directly behind Uzume shake, pieces of it coming down. It looks like the gears that ricocheted into the building caused so much damage that it was falling apart. Wait…Uzume is right beneath it… I don't want to know just how great her survivability in that form of hers is. I stood up, Kara giving me a slight push as she understood what I wanted to do – difficult not to, she also felt the incredible concern Chiho had for Uzume.

I dashed through the rubble to where Uzume's body lay or what was left of it, my first several steps unstable as I had to overpower my fatigue. I could hear everyone else shout in surprise as they scrambled for cover. The 'scrambling' was well rehearsed as this was now a third skyscraper that fell in the past 15 minutes.

I disregarded them all as I ran into the Gravity Well of Yashima's Norito. Right before me was the pile of silk that was Uzume. As I slowed down to scan the pile for traces of the Sekirei, I found her practically instantly. Well, I found her head as the rest was buried below the silk as she couldn't get out due to increased gravity.

"I can't hold any longer, Lady Rei." Yashima apologized in a stressed tone even as I reached for Uzume, Gate:Swap activating. She, just like I, noticed Uzume practically instantly but chose against telling everyone else. Why, I don't know, maybe they are friends or something? I should ask Uzume later.

I touched Uzume a split second after Yashima gave a tired sigh and released her hammer, the circle glowing blue flickering before disappearing. The moment it did, the whole ground turned into a landscape ported straight from Armageddon by Yashima truly.

In hindsight, I should've realized that the real striking power of Yashima's Norito was not the increased gravity generated by the Gravity Well but what happens after said Gravity Well suddenly disappears. I mean, I did absorb some physics knowledge from Archive. I should've known what was coming.

In fact, I thought as I stood with Uzume climbing out of her silk, Archive had schematics for something called 'Vacuum Bomb' and what I was seeing was the direct reverse of that. The way the 'Vacuum Bomb' worked was that it created a point of 0 pressure. Where normal pressure for a planet like Earth was roughly 100 kPa thanks to gravity, having abnormal pressure of 0 Pa was devastating as the air rushed in to equalize the pressure.

Here, the situation was reversed. If I were to pull some abstract numbers, let's say the pressure generated by Gravity Well is 10G or 10 times Earth gravity. That would mean that it can hold roughly 10 times the amount of air in the same area resulting in 10 times normal pressure. And then, suddenly, that gravity pull is returned to its usual value when Gravity Well fell. Of course air would rush out to equalize with the rest of the world, generating an incredible blast or air and whatever said air picked up in the process.

The failing skyscraper was blasted back and practically ripped off its foundation by the point blank blast wave created of decompressing air, spraying debris across half of the city. The cyclone that was born from the Gravity Well that practically died down around us was shredded by the same blast wave. All around, buildings groaned and bent, trying to weather sudden assault.

It was the glass that gave way first. Failing to show the same bending ability of the concrete encased steel that the skyscrapers were made of; the glass shattered and was instantly swept up by air to be sprayed all across the metropolis. Next was the rubble of the broken Junction, picked up and tossed randomly all over by the wild wind. Lastly, 4 skyscrapers failed the trial by air and fell onto the rest of the city, collapsing other buildings as they went.

And just like that, it was over. The whole thing lasted only 4 or 5 seconds and devastated a good portion of the city around the Junction. I must say, I wanted to wreck a bit to show Minaka that having us in combat with other Sekirei wasn't a good idea but I hardly expected for most of western downtown to be turned into rubble in process. Yashima's Norito is quite something. From what I understand, it's literally a charged bomb, with the locking down portion of it merely being a side effect as it charges to unleash its true destructive power. What a terrifying ability the brown haired stalker girl I rescued a year ago has. Of course, had she not charged it to maximum, as she suppressed Uzume, the damage would've been far less but we have what we have. And what we have is that now I know that Beni isn't the only Siege-Type Sekirei out there; now I know Yashima is a Siege-Type as well.

Sirens pierced the night and red glimpses of fires began to crawl up the surviving buildings. Seeing as the mist and dust were blown away by Yashima's Gravity Well going off, we could clearly see the devastation around us.

"Holy Shit." Uzume looked around with wild eyes until she stopped on Yashima who sat on the ground, staring at the destruction she caused. "I am not going against you again."

"I-" Yashima was silenced by a whining noise and then an explosion rocked the ground. We looked back and I immediately recognised the burning wreck as a helicopter. It must've been damaged by the hell that went on mere seconds ago and crashed. But what the hell was it doing above us in the first place; was it a spy?

"Minato…" The sudden explosion seemed to wake up Yashima. Abandoning the moral torment of what she has done, the girl stood up and focused on finding her Ashikabi. I smiled, it was a good mental defense mechanism we Sekirei had. When in doubt, refer to Ashikabi. Honestly, I was surprised that her Ashikabi survived at all, given the hell she unleashed. I wasn't worried about Chiho at all, considering she'll be stuck in Spirit Realm for another half an hour or so, but I did have worries for Haihane and Beni. Especially Beni, my cute little sister. Haihane's element was wind after all, and even in her condition I doubt her own element will injure her. Beni on the other hand was at risk. I hope she's alright but given the fact that her Shock Shield starts off really weak and only ramps up in strength after a while and the fact that the blast wave blew out immediately…

"Let's go." I grabbed Uzume by the elbow and pulled her in the direction the shining star that was Chiho lay. Uzume looked at me in surprise, not understanding the worry on my face, but ran after me in silence, her veils carrying her with incredible speed.

We arrived just in time to see everyone finish excavating themselves and each other from the rubble. Higa stood alone, looking at his Sekirei lying before him with calm resignation. Judging by the fact that he wasn't trying to kill himself to escape the torment of the bonds breaking and the fact that I saw Kujou at least breathing, I think that they all lived but were unconscious for now. Considering only Oshino was awake and battle ready when I left I guess she did something that saved her and her sisters.

"Uzume!" Chiho charged and bowled over Uzume with a gleeful tackle as she babbled on about how she was so worried about her Shroud. Uzume simply smiled happily and rubbed her Ashikabi's back, stating that it took more to kill her then that. She did thank me for getting her out alive though, she had major concerns about getting out from Gravity Well explosion alive, without her Norito to soak the damage.

Meanwhile, off to the side, Kara was directing Haihane – who looked exactly as when I left, meaning she suffered absolutely no damage – as she bandaged an unconscious Beni who was bleeding from her head. I dashed over but a quick check with Kara revealed that she was only knocked out and the bleeding was from a few cuts she received on harsh landing.

"Quite lucky." Kara remarked as Haihane finished bandaging Beni's head and went back to clutching her ribs in pain. "She got knocked out cold by the blast wave which took her behind Higa and that Oshino Sekirei."

"So Oshino did something that saved everyone?" I raised an eyebrow. From what I saw, anything Oshino imagined into being shattered easily so how could she create something that could withstand the debris brought in by the shockwave?

"Yes." Kara nodded in satisfaction after checking Haihane's bandage work. She may not be able to touch Beni on the count of still being stuck in the Spirit Realm but it seems like she has enough experience in first aid to be able to tell just by sight. "She shouted something about an 'Aegis' and then a giant 7 petal barrier rose into existence in front of her. Unlike her previous creations, this barrier soaked a lot of damage, with its petals breaking one by one to signify it's weakening. Quite a handy ability but quite power intensive as she passed out immediately after the assault was over and the nearly broken barrier faded."

"Well, she shielded her Ashikabi and everyone around her," I mused, impressed by Oshino's ability. I wonder what her Norito is. "Totally worth it I think."

Kara simply nodded in agreement. I, in the meanwhile, turned to the final group that was here with us in the fire illuminated scenery. Minato was propped up against a giant piece of rubble, its huge size preventing the blast wave from taking it, as his Sekirei fussed around him. In the uneven light of the burning helicopter, which happened to be directly across from him, I could see something lodged deep into his shoulder, giving him quite a bit of grief judging by the pained gasps he gave.

"What happened to him?" I nodded at Minato who now had Tsukiumi create a small water bubble around the injury to capture and hold the blood he was leaking profusely from his shoulder.

"The kid?" Kara turned to face him and a thin exasperated grin twisted her lips. "That water Sekirei of his nearly overheated her Tama but managed to hold a water dome that deflected everything that went their way. Quite impressive, truthfully."

"Then what's that in his shoulder?" I pointed at the prolonged object that glinted strangely in the light, it wasn't a dull stone but neither was it the shine of a metal. Minato's Sekirei seemed to avoid it at all costs while still trying to do something about it.

"That's a Jinki." After taking a moment to smile at my stupefied expression, Kara continued. "When the helicopter crashed and exploded, that thing flew out with the rest of the metal shrapnel and nailed the kid in the shoulder."

"If Minaka planned this, he is more insane than I thought." I sighed, my face in my hands. "What if it hit him in the head or something."

"Oh well." Kara's smile grew malicious before she continued, her features schooled to a calm indifference. "At least we fulfilled Chiho's command: we got through the match without terminating anyone."

"Wha- Oh, right." I laughed softly. The goal of this was to get the Jinki and considering Minato 'got' the damned crystal, there was no point fighting anymore. "So, time to go home?"

"Yea!" Uzume cheered as she and Chiho joined us. "Let's go party!"

"Yes." Kara nodded with a smile that promised much suffering to Uzume, a silhouette of the evil crow flickering to life around her. "I think we can do a party before you go forth to your doom, Uzume."

"W-what?" Said Sekirei twitched as she hid Chiho's face in her bosom, hiding her from the pure malice of Kara's aura. Generally, Uzume was quite weak to Kara showing that abomination of hers due to her prolonged experience with Miya's variant but this time she had Chiho to protect so she faced the thing head on. Of course, the fact that her knees were shaking, sort of ruined the 'white knight' show Uzume put on, but details.

"I like your idea about power management when you are in that spider form of yours." Kara drawled, slowly approaching Uzume who cringed. "But your skill with it is so pathetic that not only you got beat by this rabble, you also had to be rescued by Rei at last second."

"You and Haihane will take Chiho and go practise your Noritos tomorrow." Kara finished with a tone that suggested that any reply aside from 'Yes ma'am!' will be met with a miasma covered blade. So there was absolutely no surprise at all when Haihane, Uzume and Chiho all chorused in agreement.

Kara was distracted from instilling the fear of god – as in her – into the trio by the sound of approaching helicopters. We all looked up to see a trio of MBI choppers approach. In fact, the sky was totally flooded with MBI helicopters as they scrambled to go out and evacuate the people in the damaged parts of the city. Hundreds of sirens from all over the metropolis merged into an unintelligible din as emergency crews rode out in battalions to aid those caught by the consequences of our fight.

When Takami rushed out of the helicopter and dashed to her injured son, none of us were particularly surprised. Neither were we surprised when Akitsu climbed out, glanced at Takami fussing over Minato, and headed over to us. We were surprised when the rest of crew that climbed out of the helicopters headed over to Higa's Sekirei though. Especially when he drew and fired a gun at them in warning to stay away. Judging by it's size, the recoil and the fact that the bullet made a fist sized hole in the helicopter it hit, I'd say that it was something he carried as a Sekirei deterrent. So it was quite understandable when the rescue workers halted and backed down from the man defending his Sekirei.

"Get back." Higa commanded, his tired black eyes showing steel, as he aimed at the nearest worked who blanched and raised his hands to show he's unarmed. "I have my own hospital where they can recover and I won't have your filthy MBI fingers on anything or anyone that belongs to me."

"But we need to recover the terminated Seki-" The man who spoke up barely had the time to duck as another shot rang out; the bullet whizzed by where his head was and knocked over a boulder before ricocheting to gods know where.

"I said," Higa calmly continued, as if he didn't just try to murder someone in cold blood, taking aim at another random nearby man. "You won't touch them."

I take back what I said about Higa taking the death of his Sekirei fairly well. Something changed in him that day when he had to suffer through the agony of having a bond broken. It's clear from the way he fanatically defended his Sekirei. I cant tell if it's a good or a bad thing though. On one hand, as an Ashikabi, this change was obviously good. He, unlike the Higa I saw back before, was willing to do anything to protect his Sekirei and – as seen by his gestures and actions – now actually cared for the birds he winged. I mean, I saw the potential in him weeks ago when I dueled Toyotama but now it seems it was brought out in full.

On the bad end of things, he was now clearly willing to do anything to protect his Sekirei and that meant that he was now willing to do anything to win this 'game'. So, unless Kara and I are going to hang around Chiho 24 hours a day to protect her against assassins and snipers, I'll need to go and call in that favour Higa owes me.

I got pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of ice breaking. Looking at the situation, in a hurry to see what I missed, I saw Akitsu stand calmly, her frigid expression not changing a bit, before 4 Sekirei that stood in guarded stances before Higa who was shaking ice off his clothes. Hmm, it seems that Higa had another group on standby nearby that he called in otherwise how did Toyotama, Ichiya, Kaiha and some girl with hair that looked like dog ears and whips in her hands arrive so fast. Hmm, it would seem that there's an abnormal amount of Sekirei with whips or whip type weapons…er, not the best time to think about this right now.

Anyway, it looks like they arrived just in the nick of time. It seems like Akitsu grew bored of the standoff and froze Higa. Considering Toyotama was the nearest to Higa and the fact that her staff glowed a faint purple, I can figure out what happened easily. Toyotama was once again proving herself to be a Mage Slayer.

"Wait!" Chiho called out as she, with Uzume warily watching over her – a silly notion considering they were both in the Spirit Realm – walked to stand between the 2 groups. "Why are you fighting? The 3rd Round is over, Mr. Sahashi has the Jinki."

"We need to recover the terminated Sekirei." One of the rescue workers, a weathered man past his prime, said patiently, clearly having dealt with unreasonable Ashikabi before.

"But they are only unconscious, not dead." Chiho said in confusion as she looked at Kujou, Oriha and Oshino.

"Leave." Akitsu finally said to both parties after looking back at Kara who nodded, verifying Chiho's words. "The 3rd Round is now over, the winner is Minato Sahashi."


	49. Gate:Surprises

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Well, considering I wont be doing anything but partying on the New Year's Eve and after, I might as well congratulate you all with it now!

Happy New Years! May grandpa Frost grant you great presents! (for those who know about him and/or still believe in him)

С Новым Годом!

* * *

><p>"So, Uzume," I drawled as I stared hard at the aforementioned Sekirei who sat with Chiho in her lap. "Mind giving us the long overdue explanation on your Norito?"<p>

"Erm," Uzume swallowed when Kara turned to her as well, her gaze pressuring the poor silk Sekirei as if it was solid. "What's t-to tell? Y-you saw everything y-yourself."

"How about you start with how the hell you survived being torn to shreds?" Haihane rasped as she cradled unconscious Beni in her lap. "I saw you get turned into a pile of torn silk and yet here you are; better off than me or Benitsubasa."

"W-well," Uzume squirmed uncomfortably as even Chiho turned to look at her, interested in Uzume's answer. "I become the spider. IT's literally my new body while I am using the Norito. S-so long as there is still a piece of that body big enough somewhere, I can recreate my original body there."

"What do you mean, recreate?" I asked, puzzled. "I thought you could only create silk."

"Ehehe, maybe not the best word used." Uzume laughed uncomfortably and then huffed after a couple seconds of thinking. "Jeez, I don't know alright? I just know that I lose consciousness the moment I activate my Norito and when I wake up, I am a giant spider! Same thing with deactivating it: I just wake up in my original body wherever I want so long as there's a big enough part of the spider in the area I want to appear in. I tried waking up in a piece of my leg to escape Yashima's Norito but I couldn't."

"So," Kara broke the silence that descended on the helicopter cabin after Uzume's frustrated rant. "So long as there's a piece of you somewhere that is big enough, you can spawn there even if your Norito is completely destroyed. Interesting, have you tried shooting a big spike or something to a safe location where you can appear if things go bad?"

Uzume opened and closed her mouth several times, each time slowly increasing the size of Kara's grin.

"Thanks." She finally said and remained deep in thought for the rest of the trip.

* * *

><p>"Hey Kara," I called softly as we lay in our bed, getting ready to sleep. "You do remember that Uzume's Norito is unusable for another 24 or so hours, right?"<p>

"…Tch." Kara sighed as she lay in my arms, staring at the ceiling in contempt. "Now I do. This 'cooldown' thing is really inconvenient. Can't train while waiting for it to end and can't use it for the fear of it not being available when needed."

I didn't say anything; there was no point in doing so. We both saw Uzume's condition after we came home and she stopped putting up a brave face. Although she technically was within the time limit of this 'cooldown', cutting it so close did have its negative effects.

Granted, all she got was a killer headache that a couple tablets of aspirin calmed down but it was enough to force her to stay sober. Chiho told her that mixing drugs, like aspirin, and alcohol has killed millions of people so there was no way she'll let her drink. That and Kara brought out her pseudo-Norito-of-absolute-evil and warned Uzume that if she dared to die from a silly cause like that then Kara will shatter her Tama to prevent that kind of stupidity from passing on.

Honestly though, no one drank that night, well, aside from me and Kara drinking a glass of wine. Chiho claimed she was underage for drinking, which made no sense to me. I mean, she's old enough to do everything else so what the hell Japan? Beni was on aspirin too, her head hurt after she woke up in the helicopter we took to get home. Haihane was on painkiller for her ribs so she was out too. I was too tired for a party and Kara just didn't feel like it, still disappointed she didn't participate in such a fun fight.

Next morning was a fairly sombre affair as a disheveled Akitsu joined for breakfast with some nightly news. Judging by her terrible shape, I don't think she got any sleep at all as she had to take the reins of overseeing the rescue operations. When asked where Takami was in all of this, the ice Sekirei sighed tiredly and said that her Ashikabi was busy figuring out what the hell was going on with Minato.

"He somehow partially absorbed the Jinki into his body." Akitsu's casual revelation sent us all into shock.

"That's pretty much the reaction of everyone who knows." Akitsu gave a faint tired smile. "Takami lit her own lab coat on fire by accident when her cigarette fell out of her mouth. Anyway, she and Takehito are still trying to figure out what's going on and how it's even possible in the first place so I am afraid we'll have to wait until they finish to hear what's really going on."

"H-how's the rescue effort?" I tried to switch the topic, away from the most bizarre piece of news I've ever heard.

"Terrible." Akitsu closed her eyes tiredly, taking a short rest. "The damage done destroyed most of the west sector of Shinto Teito as well as a good portion of the downtown. A good part of the East still burns as several gas stations were destroyed by the debris and lit everything around them on fire. Early estimates put the total dead anywhere from 50 thousand to 100 thousand."

Well, shit. Bad topic change is bad.

"W-wha-?" Chiho stuttered, the sheer scope of the destruction and death caused by yesterday's fight that didn't even last an hour chocking her.

"As if the destruction in the North wasn't enough with it's 200 dead and a thousand injured," Akitsu carried on, her eyes still closed. "Now I have to deal with this. Fucking Minaka and his stupidity. Making Sekirei fight inside of a densely populated city, what was that fu-?"

She opened her eyes in surprise as I kissed her, silencing the cool woman and preventing my world from completely shattering. I've had enough shocking news today, thank you very much, I don't want to hear the calm, chill woman I very much admire and love suddenly start swearing. I mean, this is the first time I've ever heard her do it and it honestly didn't fit her.

Akitsu's eyes slowly closed in pleasure as she began to answer my kiss, her hands roaming across my body. She took full advantage of the fact that I don't put on my armour until after breakfast as I felt her pleasantly cold hands slip under my suit and start to wander about, causing a shudder of desire to pass through my body.

"Khm." We hesitantly broke apart to find an unimpressed Kara stare at us. "I can close my eyes on a kiss but this is going beyond something I can ignore here."

"I see." Akitsu calmly glanced around as I watched a completely red Chiho and Beni look away while Uzume and Haihane cheered us on silently. "Let's go Rei."

"Eh?" I found myself getting pulled upright and directed to the door by the icy woman. "W-what? W-where?"

"My room of course." Akitsu answered casually, only a faint reddening of her cheeks showing her true intentions. Her nonchalant answer sent Chiho and Beni into a coughing fit while Haihane and Uzume high fived each other, Haihane wincing as she did so. Kara on the other hand stood up and willed her terrifying apparition to come to life. For some reason, the twisted crow that leaked miasma of pure corruption and malice seemed clearer and far more solid than I've ever seen it. Of course, it wasn't anywhere close to corporeal state the Norito brings it into but still…

"No." Kara said, a sickly sweet smile on her face as she took a step forward. Akitsu stopped and looked at the crow specter around Kara with wary interest. Suddenly, the temperature in the room plummeted and frost began to creep through the floor around the ice Sekirei. A flurry of snow swirled around Akitsu, forming a…something behind her that twisted and changed dozens of times a second, driving us sick just by looking at it. The closest description I could come up with was a shapeless monstrosity made up of tendrils and tentacles.

"Oh gods, there's three of them now!" Uzume practically cried as she watched Akitsu's monster square off against Kara's crow apparition. Chiho hid her face in Uzume's bountiful chest while Beni and Haihane ducked for cover under the table.

"Umm…" I glanced between the 2 women I loved, understanding just how screwed I was no matter the outcome.

When my and Kara's phone rang suddenly, I, for the first - and hopefully last – time praised Minaka's timing feverishly.

"Sorry Akitsu," I tapped my earing to turn off the device and turned to the woman who looked at me and Kara in silent resignation. "The White Clown wants to see us."

Akitsu closed her eyes tiredly and nodded, the monstrosity behind her falling apart into the snow from which it was created as the temperature in the room rapidly returned to normal. It was fascinating how there is now 3 Sekirei who can use this intimidation tactic and each one of the uses a different method to accomplish the exact same result. Where Kara simply calls in an incomplete version of her Norito into reality, Akitsu seems to actively use her power to create a monster and all of the effects that follow it's arrival. I'll think more on this later, right now Akitsu was turning away with a sad frown on her face that just doesn't belong on my beloved woman.

"I'll make up to you later." I whispered as I broke away from a swift but passionate kiss with the icy Sekirei.

* * *

><p>"What a hectic day this is already and the morning isn't even over yet!" Minaka winked at us with a cheerful smile as he sat behind his desk, dozens of papers projected by his holographic table floating before him. "Clean up reports of North Sector escape attempt battle…autopsy report of a certain corpse, charred beyond any normal recognition…downtown structural integrity scan report…West Sector rescue and containment report – did you know it's still on fire? - …hospitals of Shinto Teito out of room notice…Takami's report on Minato's situation…"<p>

"When I initiated the 3rd Stage I never knew that it'd be so lively!" Minaka laughed as he spun on his chair. "So fun! This battle has given me a glimpse of what the Age of Gods was like and I want it more than ever before now!"

Kara and I exchanged a defeated look before we sighed synchronously. Leave it to the madman to ignore the consequences of his actions in favour of staring at his dream. It's like Minaka simply didn't see them. He didn't see or care about the thousands – no, millions – that this 'plan' of his has harmed in one way or another.

"You may have lost this fight due to unforeseeable circumstances but don't worry!" Minaka leaned back onto the table. "There'll be a Jinki for you too!"

"We only lost because you rushed the fight." Kara remarked, her tone quite dangerous. "You forced the fight on our day off, what the fuck Minaka?"

"My dear Karasuba," Minaka licked his lips nervously as Kara's apparition came to life, dimming the light in the room with its mere presence. Hmm, it looks like Kara picked up a thing or 2 from Akitsu's version of this intimidation tactic; she was fine with it merely existing rather than add a couple more theatrical effects. "I am terribly sorry that I had to cut your 'vacation' time short but it came to my attention that 'Sekirei Plan' must be finished by the next full moon."

"…" We stared at him blankly before Kara voiced our reaction. "What? Why?"

"I am sorry but I cannot reveal why just yet." Minaka donned a serious face for a moment. "I've only came to understand it yesterday myself."

"How long is that anyway?" I scratched my forehead in thought. The full moon was what…a couple days ago?

"25 Days from now." Minaka stood up and walked over to the window overseeing the smoke covered city. "Within 25 days, the fate of this world will be resolved."

"What?" I asked in surprise. What fate?

"Elizabeth wanted to see you 2." Minaka ignored me and went back to his desk, opening new documents. "Wouldn't want to keep her waiting now, hmm?"

* * *

><p>"Takehito and Matsu wont make it." I stated simply as I leaned against the wall of the elevator.<p>

"Doesn't matter, they were always merely a backup plan." Kara sighed in content as she did the same thing except she used me instead of the wall. I smiled gently as I embraced her and we stood silently, thinking.

Much like Kara, I never honestly believed that Matsu and Takehito could wrestle the Jinki away from the White Clown's control in time. Takehito might be the man who wrote the theory behind the basics of Sekirei and Jinki while Matsu was probably the smartest Sekirei – debatable on the account of Akitsu – in existence, but when faced with overwhelming enemies such as: incredibly limited time, advanced alien technology, alien logic and an insane genius who was probably the smarted human alive, I never actually expected them to succeed. It would've been wonderful if they did but we have our own plan.

The ding of the elevator arriving rose us from our thoughts and we made our way to Elizabeth's office which was nearby the elevators. After knocking and receiving permission to enter, I looked around the spacious room. This was the first time I was in Elizabeth's office; whenever we talked it was always her visiting as I never really thought about going to her office. Of course, the fact that she was almost never in that room also played a big role.

It was a big room colored in calm shades of green and silver with several posters depicting various MBI related things. The poster beside me was titled: 'MBI PR personnel list'. Surprisingly, Elizabeth's name was at the top of the list with the title 'Supreme Ruler' beside it…what?

The copper haired woman in question sat to the side of us with dozens of holographic monitors floating before her, each one with a face of some person. Elizabeth looked very busy as she fired off order after order to the various people with new windows popping up to replace closed ones practically instantly.

"Elizabeth." Kara called out, not caring about the woman's busyness in the slightest. Surprisingly, the woman finished her last order and then simply closed all windows to face us. After surveying us for a few moments she nodded to herself and stood up.

"You are here, excellent." Elizabeth circled around her desk to come closer, her eyes darting between the 2 of us as we stood there, waiting. "Yes this will work quite nicely."

"What will work?" I asked, looking at the unhealthy gleam in her eyes warily. Looks like Akitsu wasn't the only one who had no sleep last night…"

Elizabeth hummed as she returned to her desk, placed her elbows on it and folded her hands in a house shape before her face, giving her a cunning mastermind look.

"One of my jobs here is the head of MBI Public Relations." Elizabeth started crisply. "A hard and difficult task it is, keeping the public image of MBI in the gray if not white…especially with the latest developments."

Elizabeth leaned back and waved her hands around without an obvious pattern. Holographic windows began to pop up, facing us as she spoke up.

"The Shinto Teito containment…battles in the streets…" More and more images and videos popped up. "Deaths, injuries, destruction…danger everywhere as Sekirei fight without care for the people caught in their fight. And finally, the mass scale destruction, devastation and death of yesterday."

Elizabeth leaned back and sighed, the videos and images all shutting down.

"The people of Shinto Teito are panicking." She continued calmly. "They are afraid of living here, in the city turned into a warzone."

"That's all nice and all," Kara interrupted with a bored expression. "But where do we come in this? Why should we care?"

In response, about a dozen new windows opened. Videos of us stopping fights, resuing civilians, saving people. And in the center was a massive article image of all 5 of us standing tall and proud in our gray haoris under the title: 'Arbiters, salvation of Shinto Teito'.

"I still don't get it." I frowned. Did she want us to do something as Arbiters or something? Elizabeth sighed and dismissed all of the windows.

"I want you to be there with me when I go to a press conference in the evening today." She finally laid it out, crystal clear.

"…" Kara and I both stared at her in bewilderment and then chorused.

"What!?"


	50. Gate:Press

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

First of 2015, lets hope that this year will be as productive for me as the last...

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><p>"I can't believe I am doing this." Kara said in a shell shocked voice as we rode with a dressed up Elizabeth.<p>

"Look at the bright side of things," Elizabeth replied melancholically as she leaned back in her black business woman suit, her eyes closed. "You at least get to pull a sword on them if they start pushing. I wish I could pull my gun out on so many interviews and conferences that I have long lost count."

"Must we go to this press conference?" I attempted another go at trying to evade going to this blighted thing that Elizabeth strong armed us into. "Like, go on a mission or something."

"I wish I could go on a mission again instead of this shit." Elizabeth said dreamily, still half lying with her eyes closed. "A good 'exterminate everything' type mission would be excellent."

"…Is it going to be that bad?" I said nervously, my gloved hands stroking the hilts of my swords gently.

"For you? Probably not. For me?" Elizabeth groaned. "Fuck yes. Those journalists and press bastards are going to talk me to death with their questions and attempts to try and make me admit that the blame lies with MBI."

"Well, it does, right?" I smirked nervously. "So we'll be lying to them?"

"Of course." Elizabeth groaned as the car began to slow down. "Fuck... Well, here it goes. Do remember to not kill anyone or horribly main them unless they are really asking for it. Minaka may have given you the go ahead to do anything but if I'll be forced to attend another press conference discussing why the previous conference turned into a bloodbath, I'll shoot you."

"Yea, yea." Kara waved aside Elizabeth's words and instead grabbed her nodachi as the car came to a stop before a fairly big, wide but short building with a huge mob around it. From what I could see behind the polarized glass, was that the mob was made up of a huge amount of press journalists and cameramen.

"Well, gods bless." Elizabeth prayed and then motioned for Kara to open the door. As Kara got out, the mob withdrew slightly in surprise upon catching sight of just who was in the car. The haori we wore was very well known in Shinto Teito after all. So seeing Kara's imposing figure with a haori draped over her calm form raised quite a few eyebrows. Even more were raised when I climbed out of the car. I have recently stopped closing the haori to hide my armour and instead began to wear it like Kara, half opened and just hanging at my shoulders. There was no point in hiding it anymore, not after the shit that's happening left, right and center in the Third Phase.

"Arbiters?" Someone finally called out in surprise from the crowd, breaking the silence. The fact that Elizabeth got out from the car, that practically instantly drove off and left us alone, also woke them up from their stupor. What followed was rather…odd. Most of the crowd hanged at a respectable distance with fear, caution and respect on their faces as they eyed me and Kara warily while trying to shout questions to Elizabeth, microphones held out in outstretched hands. About a dozen or so journalists, young men and women in tasteful clothes swarmed us, trying to get to Elizabeth while shouting questions and their microphones everywhere.

"Miss Greene what does MBI have-!"

"…Greene, why does MBI-?"

"…MBI is going to do about-?"

"…the people of Shinto Teito deserve-!"

"Enough." Kara said forcefully, her evil aura causing the same reaction as a cannonball thrown into water. The same men and women who were practically walking all over us just a moment ago tripped over themselves in haste to get away from the corrosive maleficence that wreathed Kara like a shroud. She didn't quite go far enough to bring out the specter of her Norito but even the little she did was enough to give us breathing room. Even the ones with more brains who stood slightly further backed away upon her word.

"Thank you, Karasuba." Elizabeth nodded gratefully to the woman who dismissed her aura and then turned to the crowd of those who still hanged around, ignoring those who crawled or fled with haste, their minds still under the sudden effect of Kara's aura. "There will be a question and answer session after the conference where you can ask all of your questions, provided they weren't answered during the conference. Thank you all for understanding."

I could see that only few were satisfied with her answer, but one glance at Kara's bored face dissolved any resolve they had in trying to push for their questions. I walked around a petrified man, still holding his microphone in an outstretched hand and his mouth open but his widely opened pupils showed that he was far from here at this moment, as I followed the duo ahead into the building. There were a couple journalists who, instead of fleeing, simply froze at Kara's aura, their eyes wide and unseeing.

Hmm, from what I know, humans tend to split into 2 categories when dealing with sudden fears. Fight or flight, if I am correct, is the expression. I guess the ones frozen belong to the 'fight' category but are currently in a cognitive dissonance as different instincts conflict. On one hand, they should fight the danger that is Kara. On the other, their self-preservation instinct is most likely comparing their chances to that of a snowball's in the middle of a nuclear explosion. Meh, who cares? So what if Kara can send people into stupor or uncontrollable retreat by blasting her aura suddenly when close? If she's that close, chances are, unless she wants you to get away, you are going to die. It's like a fact of life.

"Ladies, this way." I returned from my musings to find some typical Japanese man in a very nice suit motion to follow him. Glancing about, I noticed that we were in some fancy hall with a fabulous red carpet and exquisitely decorated walls. I even slowed my steps somewhat, as I looked around in awe. This was a first time I saw something as decorative as this hall that slowly transformed into a half-circle room filled with comfortable chairs that faced the podium to which we were heading.

Although the room was large it was packed with people. Dozens if not hundreds sat in the chairs, notebooks, tablets and other writing and note taking gear with them as hundreds of eyes watched us. All throughout the sides, about 10 or so camera crews stood in all sorts of positions, ready to capture and relay us on screen. All of that turned our way the moment we walked and the din that filled the room slowly quieted down as we made our way to the podium.

The man guiding us to the podium gestured to the table behind which Elizabeth was to stand as she gave her presentation and then stepped away, getting off the podium. While there was a chair upon which Elizabeth would later sit during the question and answer section, there was nothing of sorts for us. I raised an eyebrow at this as I turned to Kara who merely rolled her eyes in annoyance. I guess we'll just stand then, not that it's hard for us.

"Welcome, honored guests." Elizabeth decided not to waste time and started practically the moment she reached the table and its integrated microphone. "To the Shinto Teito MBI Conference. After a brief speech I shall give on behalf of MBI's president Minaka Hiroto, we will begin the Question and Answer portion."

As Elizabeth began to read a speech from Minaka I tuned it out and instead began to look around casually. There were all types of people sitting before us. Some paid utmost attention to Elizabeth and her speech. Some looked around, bored. Other watched me and Kara as we stood boredom clear on our faces, beside Elizabeth. Judging by the respect seasoned with a dash of wariness, a hint of fear and a great deal of interest, this last group knew who Kara and I were.

Mildly interested, I looked back at that group, some of them averting eyes on contact but quite a few stood their ground and stared back. Those who failed to quail under my bored, casual glance were mostly middle aged or elderly people who seemed either sure of themselves or, like in the case of several journalists with hardened eyes, had faced intimidating and scary stuff before. Granted, I couldn't pull out an aura or apparition that would send all nearby into uncontrollable retreat with characteristic stains on their pants like Kara but I had an intimidating presence

From my experience, few could stand before my gigantic red and gold armour clad form and stare into my pale blue eyes like a good portion of this group did. And the odd thing was that they perfectly understood that the moment I so much as thought about it, they were dead. Yet, there was little fear in their eyes and postures. Respect, interest, wariness and even lust in a couple cases but very little fear.

In fact, although there was definitely a lot more fear, some of those who caught my eye treated Kara practically the same. They certainly aren't common journalists even if a few of them had tablets out and were taking notes. They are just dressed far too nicely to be mere agents of the press. Owners of said press maybe, but why would those be here when their disposable pawns, meaning common journalists, could be sent in?

Mmm, perhaps they didn't expect our presence? There was quite a bit of general surprise throughout the room as Elizabeth walked in with 2 Arbiters escorting her after all. Now that I think about it, there is a good portion of those present that only looked at me and Kara with confusion, not recognising us. Rather strange, considering the fact that the Arbiters – specifically the gray haori we wear – were rather famous in the city. Perhaps they are from outside of Shinto Teito? In fact, some of them weren't even of Asian race but were clearly foreign news agents. But the White Clown locked down the city, what would outsiders be doing here… I thought that Minaka had an agreement with the rest of the world not to reveal the existence of Sekirei to the world public…

Except Elizabeth never said anything like that and it's merely my assumption which have been proved wrong before… Although it's only me and Kara, the Arbiters who are broadcast across the city right now, it's still dangerous. What if someone sneaks a recording across the border?

I have little doubt that widespread panic would erupt across the world if the existence of Sekirei became common knowledge. Of course, this would be merely an appetizer compared to the reaction that would occur should the general public learn of the Disciplinary Squad and what we did.

"Now that the introductions are over," Elizabeth grimaced faintly as she put away the papers she read Minaka's speech from and looked out into the crowded room with resignation. "It's now question and answer time."

"The opening question will be asked by the Akatsuki Press." The same man that guided us to the podium stood up briefly and spoke into a microphone he carried.

"Thank you." An Asian woman in a black coat with red clouds inscribed on it stood up and turned to face Elizabeth. "Good evening Miss Greene. I am Konan from the Akatsuki Press and I believe that many of us here wonder about the same question: Just what happened yesterday at approximately 11 o'clock that left a good portion of downtown and about half of West Sector in flames? MBI soldiers and evacuation teams cordoned off everything, no one knows anything and we believe the people have the right to know. Thank you."

"Before I can continue the session," Elizabeth nodded to the polite woman and then gestured at me and Kara. "Let me introduce Arbiter Captain Karasuba and her lieutenant, Arbiter Rei. As they both were at ground zero at the time of the incident, they can explain what happened."

As the room erupted into surprised mutter of voices, I glanced at Kara who shook her head slightly and went back to looking about, bored. Well, the chances of her changing her mind on something like this were practically zero but I just had to try. Regardless, I might as well get started. As I walked to take Elizabeth's place, I glared at the older woman, promising horrifying fate should she cheat out of our bargain. When the woman in question merely rolled her eyes with a small huff, I relaxed and climbed up to stand on the podium.

"Good evening." I greeted the people before me with an easy going tone. I may have promised Elizabeth to explain what happened without revealing much but I couldn't care less if they believed me or not. I had other things to worry about like the fact that the dangerous game I am in suddenly gained a time limit. Compared to something monumental like that, a few disgruntled humans were far below my notice.

"As the questioner kindly brought to our attention, a good part of the city turned to rubble overnight." I won't lie, I tried hard to come up with something like a speech but all I got in the end were only several guidelines to bullshit my way with as I improvised on the spot. "The answer to why that is so, is simple."

I leaned forward, the wooden table creaking slightly under my armoured form.

"As we all know, success breeds envy. Envy, boiled long enough, breeds hate. Uncontrolled hate brings violence." I said philosophically as all of the faces in the room stared at me intently. "You might not have noticed, but MBI is very successful. I would've given the planners of this a round of applause for the genius plan but I find it rather distasteful by how many innocent civilian lives were extinguished by it."

By this point furious scribbling and tapping filled the room as the journalists began to write down notes. While Kara simply stood, that faint ever present grin on her face, Elizabeth nearly choked when I began to weave a net of lies. That being said, she recovered a split second later and instead began to show off a slightly bored façade as if the stuff I was making up on the spot was something she already knew.

"Although MBI uncovered their plot, evacuated everyone from the Chuuou Junction and sent the Arbiters in, it was too late." I lamented, thinking hard. "It was a simple yet effective plan, get into the heart of MBI territory and set off a bomb to show the incompetence of MBI. I doubt they expected the Arbiters to go in and actually capture a few of the more senior engineers and find out about who's behind the mess."

"So, long story short," I decided to wrap this up. "Jealous rivals sent in terrorists with a bomb. We couldn't deactivate it on time but we now know who did it so we can respond…appropriately."

I smiled viciously as I finished and quite a few people gulped or turned white.

"Does this answer your question?" I turned to the woman who strangely was not intimidated at all.

"That particular one yes," She stood up and stared at me defiantly with her blue eyes, so uncharacteristic of Asians. She also had dark blue hair but this I bet was simply dyed as I couldnt sense her as a Sekirei. "But what is stopping more of these 'terrorists' from sneaking in?"

"I'll answer that." Elizabeth gave me an exasperated look which I answered with a grin as she took her place at the table. "As you know, the MBI has a satellite grid with checkpoints manned by MBI security at each road in and out of the city. Everyone going in and out is checked. MBI, in order to avoid incidents, allowed religious vehicles and personnel to enter without a thorough search. Alas, we now must withdraw such privileges for the safety of our citizens. The reason is because the terrorists in question forged their documents and snuck parts of the bomb inside while posing as the clergy of various religions."

Now it was my turn to stare at Elizabeth in surprise alongside the rest of the room. My reason was different from the rest though. The woman talking before me took my lies in on the fly and adopted them into an official MBI standpoint with countermeasures and such already developed and even a scapegoat had been found.

I have heard that MBI relations with religion, particularly Catholics, were quite strained as MBI specialized in Genetics and other advanced medical sciences. This angered religious humans who claimed such practises were a heretical attempts to play god. Funny, as all Sekirei are practically demigods or can evolve to such states. I mean, look at Beni who can turn entire areas into fine sand or Haihane who can ignore some physics laws in her Norito or hell, even Uzume who changes from living to non-living and back again with ease. I am not even talking about those whose power is more abstract like Oshino, Toyotama or myself and those whose power is bordering Godhood even in our eyes like Kara and Miya.

Actually, now that I think about it, religion would have a very large problem with me, who walk between the Living and Spirit Realms like it's a common hallway. With Oshino, who seems to will anything she wants into existence – a scary power even by my standards. With Kusano, who can create life even on solid wastelands like Kamikura Island. And those are only some of the powers of the Sekirei I know. I have no doubt that there are other, even more unique and mind-boggling powers out there.

"I have a question." I broke from my musing to find that the forest of hands that was out there earlier has significantly decreased, showing that quite a few questions were answered while I was thinking. I looked at the man currently standing, a fairly young foreigner, a European judging by his features. Despite being a foreigner, his Japanese was quite passible as he continued.

"This Arbiter Rei person claimed that she and her group managed to grab several engineers that set up this bomb." He took a breath and glanced around as if seeing if those around him saw what he was trying to say. "But if they had the time to escape the blast radius, why didn't they instead defuse this bomb and save tens of thousands of lives?"

"Who said we escaped." Kara replied casually before Elizabeth or I had a chance to open our mouths. "The bomb blew up only a couple dozen meters or so in front of us."

"W-what?" The man tilted his head, baffled. "Impossible, that bomb destroyed most of the city and yet you claim to have survived it at point blank range?"

"I fail to see what's so impossible about surviving a Gravity Bomb." Kara shrugged nonchalantly even as the journalists hastily wrote down every word, their hands in a frenzy the moment they heard 'Gravity Bomb'. "Sure a few weaker Arbiters suffered injuries but I and Rei are beyond being overwhelmed by something like that."

"Th-that's a lie! That's just not possible!" The man continued. "You can lie all you want, it won't change the fact that you abandoned tens of thousands of innocent lives as you fled like the cowards you a-a-are…?"

The man's delirious speech spluttered and died as a maleficent and oppressing aura blanketed the room. Oh dear, calling Kara a coward is as safe as jumping on an ant hill covered in honey and chains. Unlike last time, only an hour or so ago, this time Kara actually brought out her apparition as she concentrated all of her ill will at the subject of her ire.

Hmm, it would seem I was wrong about paralysis being caused by conflicting instincts. It was caused by them receiving an extra dose of the pure evil Kara's intimidation ability leaked. Why else would the whole room just freeze suddenly, paralyzed, as they stared in fear at the semi-transparent gigantic humanoid crow that draped itself over Kara? The crow on the other hand, dripping with miasma of corruption and wickedness, stared back. I suppressed a shudder, I knew that for the apparition all living it surveys are nothing else but hunks of delicious meat that, for some odd reason, still moved.

"An insignificant, tiny worm such as yourself would no doubt run, your pants full of shit, at the prospect of facing such danger like this bomb." Kara sneered, her cold tone physically pushing the man into a small ball as he tried to escape Kara's sight. "We on the other hand are strong enough to survive such an event. Regardless, we were asked to protect this city by MBI and so we will do so without fleeing from danger."

The whole room took a deep breath as Kara dismissed her Apparition only for looks of disgust to cross many faces as they stared at their neighbours in surprised revulsion. Said neighbours turned various shades of red and fled the premises, the yellow and brown stains on their lower clothes signifying the reason for such hasty retreats. Leave it to Kara to make a good half of the people here shit themselves.

"D-Demon!" Another man rose, this one with a large golden crucifix hanging around his neck. He was pale but aside from that seemed to be one of the few who weathered Kara's aura fairly well. "MBI have demon spawn in their employ! Heretics, what have you done!"

"Oh spare me your jealousy, human." Kara rolled her eyes at the priest who was shocked to be addressed like so before his face reddened in anger.

"Jealousy!?"

"Yes, jealousy." Kara sighed, bored. "You are jealous of my power that I worked so hard to earn. Yet instead of trying to better yourself like I did, you simply try to kill the person you know is better than you. How pathetically envious you are, pitiful human who claims to follow god and yet you are merely a sinner who indulges in Envy."

The room quieted for a minute as we all tried to figure out the mindfuckery Kara just dumped on us in a casual, bored voice. Somehow, she made it seem that the religions around the world hunted demons because they were simply envious of their power. But that would mean that the clergy are actually worshippers of Envy, one of the Great Sins of Christianity. And Envy is a greater daemon, a Prime Evil so did she just claim that Christianity – amongst others – as a whole are a bunch of Demon Worshippers? Oww, my head…

"Karasuba…" Elizabeth moaned, her face covered by her hands. "I know you don't appreciate religion much but can you not troll the rest of us too?"

"Tch, it's boring here." Kara rolled her eyes once more. "Can't we leave already, most of the people here have left already."

"Khm, khm." The man in the suit who was our guide coughed into the microphone, attracting everyone's attention. "The MBI Press Conference is now closed. All guess please make your way to the exits and thank you for coming. My name is Keiji Komatsu and it's been a pleasure to be your host this fine evening."

* * *

><p>"That went far better than planned." Elizabeth muttered as she sprawled over the seat of the limousine after taking off her high heels with palpable relief.<p>

"Eh?" I glanced at Kara who looked just as startled as I was, even if only those who knew all of her expressions well could tell. What kind of plans did Elizabeth make if Kara setting the religious world against MBI was better than what she expected?

"Don't look at me." Elizabeth somehow guessed what we were doing even with her eyes closed. "It was Minaka's idea to bring you 2. Not sure what he was expecting, but he wanted me to use you 2 to find a reason to restrict or ban all religious based traffic in and out of the city. Why, I don't know, but he wanted to use Kara's intolerance of religion to start a conflict."

"Why the hate anyway?" Elizabeth opened an eye lazily and looked at Kara as we rode on a highway, only street lamps providing light in the darkness around us.

"I don't hate religions." Kara shrugged. "I simply dislike anything that affects anyone's free will. Religion takes free will away and instead gives a bunch of dogmas that replace it. I dislike that."

I nodded as I fell over and ended up with my head just where I planned: Kara's lap. Kara did have an incredibly high independence streak and disliked anyone who gave up their free will. Kara was just odd that way. If I suddenly decide that the goal of my life is to go jump off a cliff, she'll merely raise an eyebrow in surprise and accept it. She'll certainly test to see if my decision is iron-solid first but she'll accept it. But if I go to jump off a cliff because someone told me to – and for some gods forsaken reason I listened – I am in for a world of pain as Kara would show me her displeasure.

Of course, this is all hypothetical as I would never do anything to leave Kara's side. I promised didn't I?

Forever and ever.


	51. Gate:Name

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>This city sure has changed, I thought as I casually strode down a street, ignoring the looks full of wonder and a hint of fear from passers-by. In a mere month, the people of Shinto Teito changed from fairly friendly, open citizens to guarded people who were always on a watch for oddly dressed or behaving strangers. Hell, had I not been wearing the haori associated with Arbiters, I am sure everyone I met, as I walked down this street in the North Sector, would've fled from my armoured form on sight.<p>

Can't blame these people though, I mused to myself as I watched a mother guide a pair of twins to a nearby playground, her eyes darting all over the place, ready to pick up her children and flee at a moment's notice. These people have been torn out of their safe, calm lives and thrust into a warzone where they can die in an instant. Thousands have died in fact and that only stressed the rest even more. And the worst thing was, they were completely powerless to do anything about this situation. The Sekirei fighting in this city tend to avoid hitting bystanders if they can but stray techniques, misaimed strikes or deflected projectiles tended to not care what or who they hit. People, innocent citizens of Shinto Teito, continued to die on a daily basis with their only fault being that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Still, it was interesting to see just how many humans were willing to stay and trust their lives to this roulette of fate. Sure, many fled for a better life elsewhere but for a city of 14 million, losing half a million isn't deadly. The streets were still full of wary pedestrians and the offices still conducted business as usual. What a strange race…

As I turned a corner and continued on, scaring the wits of some Sekirei who tried to seep through a wall while clutching her Ashikabi to her chest, I thought on this morning, just hours ago and just what I was doing here. I mean, sure I wanted to patrol the city while I had some downtime but there were other things I could and probably should be doing. Like training my Norito with the rest of my team for instance. I was still a little confused about it. Oh I definitely knew now what it did – hard not to after I tested it out that night with Kara watching – but how it worked? Well, I had a few theories but I'll need to use it again to see which one is correct. Perhaps I can use a mechanic or 2 from my Norito to create a new variation of Gate:Open. I did always look for new ways to use my only ability after all. Granted, not everything I come up with is usable or safe to actively use like Gate:Marble. But for each unusable and unsafe technique I at least gain experience in what works and what doesn't which helps creating a working and, most importantly, a safe technique for me to use.

Hmm, yes, I think I'll join the rest of my team tomorrow and bring a test subject for myself to use. They also need to see my Norito and know what it does. Who knows what the future will bring? Perhaps they'll have need of my Norito, weird as it is.

It was slightly odd to have a breakfast with just me and Kara. I've grown used to Haihane shamelessly discussing porn and other similar things with Uzume, not caring one bit about us hearing them clearly. To Chiho sitting there, listening to the perverted duo with a glowing face while occasionally speaking with Beni on things like clothes and make up, the similar bodies of the 2 letting them share and try each other's things. On a side note, Chiho looked so damn sexy in Beni's skin tight nanoweave suit that I had to resist the urge to strip her naked and have my way with her. Why, just thinking about her in that suit makes me…khmm.

Anyway, they are with Akitsu at Kamikura Island right now. Yesterday, Haihane spent as long as she could in her Norito while Uzume tried – quite unsuccessfully from what Akitsu told us – to hit Haihane with everything she had short of a Norito. Today, it will be Uzume's turn to practise her Norito while Haihane flees from the giant pissed off arachnid she drove mad yesterday. Although, considering Kara flew off to join them after breakfast today, perhaps it will be the 2 of them doing all they could to stay alive as Kara 'trained' them. Considering she didn't have a chance to have a real fight for a while now – training with me didn't count as I still didn't last long enough to let her really go at me for any extended period of time – I pity the duo who now have to contend with a frustrated Kara.

Meanwhile, upon hearing that I had stuff to do in the city, – I was hoping to meet Higa and see if we could come to an agreement – Takami sent me off to Izumo Inn to placate Minato's Sekirei who she kicked out to stop bothering her. Takehito also asked to tell Miya that he was fine. The fact that I and Minato's Sekirei were technically enemies and Miya had wanted to thoroughly punish me for years just didn't register as a valid excuse. Just what was a valid excuse for Takami anyway? Even death didn't seem to count for some reason…

* * *

><p>"Good morning…" The first to spot me was Homura who, for some odd reason, was lying on the roof shirtless, lazing in the rays of the sun.<p>

"Hey Homura." I greeted him with a smile, grabbing my chance at not seeing Miya for another little while. "How are you doing?"

"Eh, could've been worse." The older male said philosophically as he scratched his toned chest before rising himself up on his elbows to look at me. "Yukari found out that I went with you guys and showed me her disappointment. Sorry, I am afraid no more late night barbeques from now on for me."

"What a pity, to have such an unreasonable Ashikabi." I sighed, glancing with an amused expression at a disgruntled face of the aforementioned person who just happened to be eavesdropping on us out of a second story window.

"Hey! Stop corrupting my Homura!" Yukari shook her fist at me in mock anger as she showed herself. Yet, below her cheery façade a real wariness and fear lay. "He shouldn't kill people, regardless what they do! It's just wrong and there's a reason jails exist!"

"Jails are made for humans who commit crimes." I smirked with a hint of sadness. "Under what charges would crime against Sekirei go as? Animal Cruelty?"

"Erm…" Yukari frowned as she tried to find a counterargument. Homura and I waited patiently for her to come up with something but she only lowered her head and quieted down before looking away.

"We, the Disciplinary Squad," I told her gently. "Are called Arbiters for a reason. We are the Judges and Executioners rolled into one who defend the interests of Sekirei. Homura knows what it's like to be out there, defending our kin who are thrown out, blind to the cruel reality of this world."

"Homura…" Yukari asked hesitantly, almost fearing her Sekirei's next words.

"She speaks the truth, Yukari." Homura said heavily as he sat up completely. "In the eyes of the law and the government, we Sekirei are nothing but potential lab rats."

"N-no way…" The girl shivered, looking lost as she looked at her Sekirei. Homura sighed and swung acrobatically into her window, bringing his Ashikabi to his naked chest. He then whispered something into her ear that brought a faint smile and a blush to Yukari's face.

"I think that's enough for now." We all turned to see Miya, smiling serenely as she looked at me. Only the fact that she had that dastardly ladle in her hands ruined the image of a harmless housewife that Miya tried to emulate. "Come in now, stray, there are people waiting."

I sighed as I followed her into the Inn, the sound of my greaves hitting the wooden floor causing the lady of the house to frown. Surprisingly, she said nothing about it for once even though her aura of disapproval hanged heavily about me.

Damn, I am getting envious by all of these people who can just show you their disapproval – amongst other things – just by exerting their will on the reality around them. Granted, Miya is a Pillar, Kara earned it through hard work and the fact that she can rival Miya while Akitsu can do it because she's a genius. Still, it makes me think if it's possible for me to do the same somehow. So far, all of my attempts failed, I even tried to get Kara to tutor me. I haven't gotten any closer to it then I was before which caused me to shelf it for the moment with a heavy heart.

"Lady Rei?" I waved back at Musubi who looked like she just came out of the bath, her hair still wet. "How's Minato!?"

"Well, can you gather everyone so I won't have to repeat myself?" I smiled as she dashed off before dropping the facial expression and turning to Miya who looked at me, waiting. "Takehito is fine, if anything, he acts like the voice of reason to Takami, making sure they both eat, sleep and have a bit of rest."

"How much longer will he be in that place?" Miya asked calmly, a bit of tenseness bleeding out of her figure.

"He said it's hard to say for certain," I recited. "But he's expecting to be there for 2 or 3 more days."

"I see." Miya bowed her head in acceptance, her long lavender hair covering her face briefly before we both looked up to see Matsu, Yashima, Kazehana, Musubi, Kusano and Tsukiumi stampede down the stairs with Yukari and Shiina closely behind. A little bit later, Homura walked down in a calm, dignified manner as he finished buttoning up his dress shirt, ignoring the looks the rest of the crowd gave him.

"Well, we are all here now." Tsukiumi asked impatiently the moment Homura sat down. "Tell us what is going on with our husband already!"

I took a moment to look at them instead, interested to see how well they recovered after the fight 2 days ago. Tsukiumi was in yet another blue dress although this one much simpler then the black and blue masterpiece she generally wears to combat. From what I could see, her bruises were gone already and she was once more in her peak condition. Yashima, who lounged about calmly, was wearing a simple long sleeved white shirt and loose gray pants. She also had no injuries I could see but then again, she did have armour last time I saw her. Finally, there was Musubi who seemed to wear her adjusted Shrine Maiden outfit even at home. Although I couldn't her body well, I could see rows of bandages on her left thigh and right shoulder where she was clipped by Uzume's spears that one time she tried to run up the spider's body.

"He is fine." I spoke up finally, interrupting another angry outcry from Tsukiumi before she could do more than open her mouth. "He is healed up already but Takami and Takehito wish to keep him for observation for a couple more days just to be sure."

"It's not every day you see an Ashikabi absorb a Jinki." I frowned as I saw Matsu twitch at this but decided to merely keep an eye on her as I continued. "So it's better to be safe than sorry or so Takehito said."

Matsu definitely knew something more, I thought as I watched said Sekirei out of the corner of my eye. I am not sure what exactly, but I am guessing it has to do with the Jinki's unnatural reaction to Minato. Takami did mention that this was completely unpredictable and bizarre event so the fact that Matsu knows something more will certainly be interesting to her. Still, I'd rather not antagonise the 2nd right now to try and get more information so I'll do nothing.

"Did brother have a message or anything for us?" Yukari called out from the happy din of voices as Kazehana riled up Tsukiumi and Homura for a drinking contest for 'Minato's get well party' while Musubi and Kusano danced in glee that their Ashikabi was fine. Yashima in the meanwhile was talking to Miya in low tones about something.

"I am sorry, but I am here only to relay Takami's words." I smiled apologetically and stood up. "In fact, considering I came here only for a momentary visit, it's time for me to go. Have fun you all."

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><p>I once more admit that Kazehana is dangerously annoying. The wind Sekirei almost convinced me to stay and drink with them somehow! Thank gods – one and only time – that Miya kicked me out of the house and handed off jobs like shopping for Musubi and Yashima to everyone else. If she hadn't, I bet I would've woken up tomorrow in a random location and, knowing my luck, most likely with yet another woman in my bed. Or their bed, but whatever. I know for a fact that Kazehana is by far not against having some fun with a girl or several as Uzume admitted that it was her who 'corrupted' her during one wild night after she helped Matsu escape. Granted, with a body like that, Kazehana is the prime corrupter of all straight women out there. She's also the prime target of all jealous women but that's getting off topic.<p>

Somehow, by the time I reached Hiyamakai Hospital where Higa lives, it was evening and the sun was already setting. First, I had to break a couple fights on my way there as the idiotic Sekirei chose to do combat in the middle of crowded streets. I swear, the amount of brain matter in these fools is so little that it's a miracle that it's enough for them to even form basic thoughts. I mean, who the hells attacks an Arbiter nowadays? Did they somehow miss the memo that the gray haori equates to stop what you're doing and run?

I actually fell into stupor when they attacked me. I mean, the amount of times I was attacked as an Arbiter on a patrol could be counted on the fingers of 1 hand. Not counting Homura, Tsukiumi and the lightning twins of course. Regardless, after distributing a severe beat down to the morons - and their Ashikabi for a good measure that they didn't stop them – I had to drag them all into the nearest hospital. And gods damn it if anyone on the street helped me. No, they just all ran away and forced me to drag the injured idiots to the nearest hospital.

After I tossed them into the reception of the hospital and scared the living daylights out of the nurse on watch, I got called by number 109, Dai. Our adorable little sister apparently had her three helpers that Elizabeth awoke Initiated the moment they finished their adjustments. After chiding her gently on rushing things and telling her to send the trio congratulations from me, I asked why she called.

Apparently, Dai called me last after Chiho and Kara to ask me for a name for number 110. She already asked Kara for a name for 111 and Chiho for 112 but decided against bothering me earlier as I was at Miya's house. Interested, I asked about 111 and 112, what their names and abilities were.

Number 111, who Kara named Tamotsu was apparently an elemental type with metal subtype and could control all metal regardless of their form or state so long as she touched it.

"…For one, I am pretty sure Tamotsu is a male name," I frowned at this. "Weren't all the Sekirei we found in the lab female?"

"They were." Dai's holographic image sniggered at my expression before continuing. "But, I am going to quote Karasuba here, 'I don't care, it fits.'. So now number 111 has to live with that name for the rest of her life."

"Of course." I rolled my eyes. I should've expected Kara to use the first name that popped into her head and she thought was fitting regardless of whether it was male or female. "Hey, what's this type thing you mentioned? It's familiar but it's like something I heard with the tip of my ear once before and thought was unimportant."

"It's a system Takami and Takehito created to categorize all Sekirei powers." Dai explained. "There's 3 types: Elemental, Enhancement and Irregular. Elemental is when the Sekirei can use an element or a power outside of their body, Enhancement is inside the body and Irregular is everything else. Then there's subtypes which explain the Sekirei's power further. For instance, Benitsubasa is irregular type with shock subtype, Haihane is enhancement type with wind subtype, Uzume is elemental type with silk subtype and you are irregular type with border subtype."

"Huh, interesting." I mused, this was an interesting way to categorize Sekirei powers. "What about Kara?"

"Well, she's a bit weird." Dai scratched her nose. "She's enhancement type with pure subtype. Or you can say she's an enhancement type with enhancement subtype. So enhancement squared."

"…?" I twisted an eyebrow in confusion at Dai's frustrated mumbling as she tried to find a way to explain to me what the hell she just said.

"Look," She finally rolled her eyes and said. "It's like this. We have a human who is a one. Then we have an enhancement Sekirei who is a 2. So, in this example, the Sekirei would always be twice as strong as a human. Then we have Karasuba who is an enhancement squared Sekirei so she's a 4. That means she'll be always twice as strong as a regular enhancement Sekirei."

"Ah…" I nodded in understanding. So Kara is stronger than everyone else simply because she has an extra enhancement type?"

"…Sure." Dai sighed. "Anyway, number 112 who Chiho named Hoshiko, is a fire enhancement Sekirei so nothing particularly new or exciting here. Just a regular frontline fighter if it wasn't for her ability to melt or light on fire anything she touches. It wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't a pyromaniac with a fascination with fire. Regular fire does nothing to her if she runs her power through her body so she keeps playing around with it! She burned half of an entire level to the ground once just for laughs!"

"You, stop laughing!" Dai pouted at me as I openly laughed at her frustrated form. She was just so cute when she did things like this. "Grrr, stop it already so I can tell you about 110!"

"Yea, sure." I stopped laughing but my great grin didn't go anywhere. Ah, this was just what I needed after a stressful day filled with morons trying to ruin it.

"Whatever," Our adorable little sister huffed before continuing. "So number 110 is irregular type, spirit subtype."

"E-eh?" My eyes widened as I stared into Dai's victorious grin as she laughed haughtily at my stupefied face. This number 110's type sounded practically just like mine, I mean, sure I got designated as 'border' subtype but considering it's to the spirit realm and back I go to, I could've just as easily gotten 'spirit' as my subtype if what Dai said about this system was true.

"Right, so, number 110." Dai snapped her fingers to bring me back. "At first I thought I screwed up on her initiation because she could use her power at all until she did something by accident that literally made my jaw drop. You know, if I was still an AI, I bet I would've gotten a logical error just by this event happening."

"Anyhow," She continued now that she had my full attention. "Number 110 carried around a small doll that Elizabeth and Chiho made for her. When she tried to use her power and she couldn't, she despaired and caused a sporadic outburst by nearly overloading her Tama. Regardless of the details, some of the power that lashed out from her Tama went into that doll and possessed it. Now, she has a construct that follows her around and shows limited sentience and she speak with it mentally."

"That's actually pretty interesting." I hummed. "How good is this doll? What did you mean by limited sentience?"

"Well, it's a doll made out of cloth and foam so of course it's terrible." Dai sighed at me. "As for limited sentience, the doll can interpret her orders and follow them without her having to spell out every single step. It's still as dumb as a brick otherwise though. This being said, she is beginning to construct an actual battle golem with the aid of Tamotsu."

"Fascinating." I rubbed my chin in thought. An actual puppet master! In fact, this reminded me of that one character from an anime Haihane watched that interested me. A blond girl who could command dozens of small dolls to rip her enemies apart and protect herself. "I think her name should be number 110, Alice."

"Alice?" Dai looked at me in surprise. "Really? A western name? Not going to go for the Japanese names like Karasuba and Chiho did?"

"Well, these Sekirei were born in America so it would make sense for their names to be western." I parried her questions. "That and it's a reference to a puppet master I once saw and liked."

"Right." Dai nodded slowly before frowning and turning sideways. "Uh…look, sorry but I need to cut this short, Hoshiko started a fire again. Talk to you later!"

After Dai hanged up due to a distraction on her end, the distractions on my end didn't end much to my dismay. Thankfully, I only had to disrupt a couple more fights before I reached Higa's hospital. I found myself nearly overjoyed at the fact that, unlike the previous morons, these guys knew who I were and the sight of my haori alone was enough to send them scrambling away. At long last, I reached the big white building surrounded by a fenced park. Judging by the way this day has been going on so far, I had…concerns on how well my meeting with Higa would go. But, I needed to at least try this and if anything, I did have several aces up my sleeves I could dish out to tip the scales in my favour.

Information was a very well sought after merchandise after all.


	52. Gate:Deal

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

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><p>As I walked onto the Hospital grounds, I was attracted by a faint whistling noise a little off to the side. If I am not mistaken, it came from a building that was the car parkade. Interested, I made my way inside; the locked door not a problem for me in my Soul Form, to find a rather interesting sight. Apparently this particular level – or maybe even the whole building – was changed into a training ground of sorts with mannequins, targets and other various equipment all over the place.<p>

In the center of this magnificent mess, stood Oriha in what seemed like a copy of her heavily embroiled dress that she wore to the 3rd round a couple days ago. Considering the previous one was torn to practically shreds during the fight, it's easy to state that this is in fact a copy, provided it's the same dress. Regardless, moving on from her dress I surveyed what I could to find that she was now completely recovered and was now…tinkering with her disks?

I didn't know her disks were so complex, I mean from what I've seen I thought they were just solid disks of sharp metal that she controlled with her will. Apparently, that was not the case as there was a disk floating before her in a disassembled state. I came a little closer quietly, studying the disks as Oriha bit her nails, thinking hard on something. From close up the disk looked like it was made up of 2 metal half spheres that were the chassis, 3 sharp curved blades that locked inside to form the cutting edges and at the center sat a small pale purple crystal of some kind.

Suddenly, the crystal glowed with faint purple light and the whole thing came together in a split second to form the seemingly seamless disks that I saw her use 2 days prior. Another second later, the disk rapidly wound up its rotating speed and began to hum; emitting the sound that drew me here. Oriha then had it rotate horizontally as well, the incredible speed of the rotation making it look like a semi-solid sphere even to my eyes. Oriha began breathing heavily as she kept increasing the rotation speed in both ways until the sphere solidified and emitted the distinct boom of the sound barrier being broken.

I felt my eyes widen at this event, that disk was now something that even I would not be able to block. Not without cutting it with Gate:Open anyway. Suddenly, a strange ticking noise began to emanate from the disk turned sphere. Oriha frowned and instantly the disk began to slow down. In about 15 seconds or so, it came to a complete stop and wrenched itself apart with the sound of tortured metal.

It would seem that moving at such speeds did have its adverse effects, as the chassis glowed red and appeared warped while the blades looked like they were dipped into a strong acid for a while. Only the crystal was perfectly fine. Oriha huffed in frustration and then did something that caused my jaw to drop.

The crystal began to pulse in bursts of violet light every couple seconds and with each pulse fascinating things happened. The first pulse turned both the chassis and the blades into dust. The second pulse recreated the chassis and the blades from said dust looking brand new and as solid as ever. The final pulse reassembled the parts into a new disk that fell into Oriha's hand as she looked at it sceptically.

I was about to step forward and declare myself when suddenly Oriha dropped the disk and instead outstretched her hands like she was trying to cup water. A faint purple glow veined down her arms from her Tama and condensed inside her hands to form another crystal, this one a bit larger and shaped like a monolithic star unlike the previous square crystal. This act seemed to take a lot out of Oriha as she was practically on her knees from exhaustion by the time she finished. She let her hands fall to her knees to support herself up as the crystal floated away from her slightly. Practically instantly after, pieces of the floor and surrounding debris as well as dust flew towards the crystal like it was a miniature black hole. In seconds a massive gear levitated before Oriha who looked at it a tired but triumphant grin.

Hmm, judging by what I just saw, the girl just tried to replicate the gears created by her Norito and even succeeded somewhat. She may have gotten drop-dead tired from creating a single gear unlike the 9 her Norito forms in seconds, but considering the gear is permanent until destroyed or dismissed… If she brings a dozen or so of these monstrosities to a fight instead of her usual small disks, she'll be much more difficult to fight. I mean, unless she's trying to fight someone of Kara's level, I doubt her enemies will be able to block or parry those giant things accelerated to the speed of a bullet. Considering they would also deal massive environmental damage on impact, she doesn't even have to aim directly at her enemies, just hitting the general area would be enough.

Well, this fascinating and very informative show aside, I should probably ask her where Higa is, if he's in the hospital at all.

"I see you have evolved your power, well done." I openly walked in and found myself facing the giant gear that was rapidly gaining rotational speed, its conjurer right behind it as she stared at me in surprise. "Peace, I am not here to harm anyone, only to talk."

"You…" Oriha looked sorely tempted to try and send her gear at me but after a glance at her own hands which still shook from exhaustion, she decided against the useless gesture and even stopped her gear. She still kept it in front of her just in case though.

"What do you want?" The smaller girl finally asked as she sat on the smaller disk she dropped earlier as it rose and positioned itself under it's maker.

"My, what hostility, it's not like I did anything to you." I smirked as I walked through her gear and sat in mid-air before the surprised Sekirei. "I have come to offer a trade to your Ashikabi that will be very profitable for everyone involved. Is he here?"

"A…trade?" Oriha asked in bewilderment, my proposal stunning her. "I…erm…well, he is here…wait, I need to call Toyotama."

"Very well." I smiled pleasantly as I got up and began to wander around the room, giving Oriha privacy as she pulled out a cell phone from...somewhere. I decided against dwelling on that feat even if she didn't have a purse or pockets on that dress of hers. Instead, I tried to levitate myself in the Spirit Realm. Considering the physics here were rather funky, I found that with enough will, the physics of the Spirit Realm could be overwritten for a short period of time. Like me sitting on a non-existent chair for instance. Sure it existed in the Living Realm, but it also just as surely didn't exist in the Spirit one. So I forced my will on the world, solidifying the space under my butt into a 'something' I could sit on. Same principle applied with levitation, I merely willed a 'something' I can step on to appear which makes it seem like I am actually walking on air. But by the gods! This exercise is damn tiring.

"Reaper?" I was distracted from my exercise by Toyotama who walked in to find me floating in mid-air only to fall heavily the moment my concentration broke. "Oh my, I am afraid this training ground is reserved to Higa's Sekirei only and if you wish to train here you must pay rent."

"It's a good offer but I am afraid I'll pass; the MBI training grounds are free." I smiled back at the green headed woman. "Is Higa ready now?"

"Yes, Higa is ready to see you." Toyotama nodded and turned to walk away. I waved goodbye to a confused Oriha before we left though, messing with the girl in the dress a bit.

As we walked through the Hospital, I noticed how we saw no more Sekirei aside from Oriha on the grounds and none at all inside. When I commented on it, my companion merely smiled and said that the rest were currently busy training so that next round they'll be chosen by Higa to attend. She smirked as she said they were rather jealous of Kujou who spent most of the fight in Higa's careful care and Oriha who got a kiss from him. Before I could talk more about this, we arrived to Higa's office and Toyotama opened the door immediately without bothering to knock or announce herself. Although I was surprised by this, I followed her in nonetheless.

The office didn't change since I was last here. Same big wood table with an equally big touchpad carved into it behind which the master of the house sat in a nice leather office chair with a window offering a great view of the hospital grounds behind him. Heh, once more, it shows a nightly visage. I think the view is much better during the night as it looks out onto the park sporadically enlightened by an occasional lamp. Gives it an enchanted touch. As I surveyed the location, Toyotama closed the door and leaned against it, intending to stay. I didn't particularly mind the green head so I chose not to comment on the situation.

Instead, I sat down on the chair so conveniently placed before Higa, my sub consciousness using the object as an anchor to concentrate on, preventing me from falling through it. For a couple minutes we just stared at each other, studying one another. I first glanced at his general form to find that the man was suffering from exhaustion. I could see it in the slight slump of his shoulders, the bags under his eyes, the tired eyes themselves.

It was strange, compared to the Higa I saw at the beginning of this mess, he certainly looked a lot more weathered and seasoned. Yet, unlike the Higa from before, the man before me seemed…reliable. A sense of reliability and power radiated from this man, something I certainly wouldn't say a month ago. Whereas a month ago he was a sly, cunning young man who carried himself like the world was a chessboard and he was a player… This man before me could likened to a seasoned soldier who saw shit, did shit and was prepared to get his hands even more dirty for whatever he valued. What an amazing change this one young man underwent over a single month. Granted, within this month he had to deal with an insane amount of stress not to mention having to survive the death of his Sekirei… Still, I was…impressed.

"You wished to arrange a deal with me?" Higa finally asked, cutting straight to the point as he leaned back slightly. "Or are you here to cash in your favour?"

"No, no." I smiled, amused, at him. "Of course I am not here to use up something as precious as a favour! Things like that are difficult to come by and are extremely valuable."

I chose not to mention that I made the decision not to call in said favour just now as I finished looking at him. If before I had thoughts about using it as an addition to my terms to force him to submit, now I believe it would be better to hold onto it. Things like these were…difficult to get especially if they actually mean something to the other party. Meanwhile, Higa smirked despite his tiredness, entertained by my act. It was now, more than ever, that I was sure that when the time comes, he will honor his word. If before I had doubts about his moral integrity, now I was oddly satisfied with it. I now knew that when the time came, he'd honor that favour he gave me.

"I come to negotiate a peace between our 2 factions until we are the only ones left." I was interested to see only mild acceptance in his expression rather than the surprise that I expected and that Toyotama showed. "This included any 3rd party involvement as well."

Now I saw respect in Higa's eyes and confusion in Toyotama's who clearly didn't understand what I was talking about. However, she kept quiet and simply listened on so I didn't mind.

"Peace like that would certainly be helpful and profitable to all." Higa leaned in and placed his elbows on the table. "But before I consider, I'd like to hear what you are bringing to the table in return for me calling off any and all current and future 3rd parties I or those under my command involve."

What a fast guy, I mused as I reclined in my 'chair'. He already has people after Chiho and it's only the 2nd day. Good thing she's far out of his reach right now.

"I can tell you the results of Akitsu's research into Sekirei's Noritos." I smirked as I saw a spark of interest appear in his eyes and watched him draw himself upright. "Their limitations for one, I think you'll find particularly useful. Especially the ones that, if ignored, will not only kill the Sekirei attempting it but also the Ashikabi that initiated it."

"What!?" Toyotama bounced off the door, staring at me in incredulous shock. "Our Noritos can harm Higa?"

"I accept these terms." Higa calmly spoke over Toyotama's outburst, his face becoming steel as he reigned in his emotions. "But I hope you don't mind if my analyst attends your lecture."

"Not at all." I gracefully nodded and watched as Higa called someone named Kakizaki and told him to show up as soon as possible with someone called Kochou. For the next 5 minutes, I looked around the office, Higa seemed to take a short nap in his chair while Toyotama leaned against a wall and tried to burrow a hole in me with her eyes, unsuccessfully of course. In fact, I abandoned surveying the office and instead focused on the greenhead, looking at her with interest. She seemed exactly like I remembered her from my previous visit but a few things seemed different.

For one, she seemed to passively absorb energy around her, causing her skin tone to appear darker than usual and the temperature around her several degrees lower than what it should be. It would appear that she evolved her energy vampirism to such a degree that she absorbs energy with her entire body now. As a matter of fact, I am willing to bet that she has effectively become immune to low powered attacks as she'd just absorb them the moment they came close and weaken anything she can't absorb. A true nightmare to elemental type Sekirei I'd imagine. Of course, someone of Akitsu's caliber could just overwhelm her vampirism in an instant but lower level enemies would stand absolutely no chance. That and the fact that she actively drains everything around her as we speak, makes me think that she's storing all of that energy somewhere. If given time and chance to use said energy in a fight...well, the results would certainly be interesting.

Before I could concentrate on what else seemed different about Toyotama, I got distracted by the door opening and revealing a serious young man dressed in a sharp black business suit and a woman with short gray hair and an equally gray dress. Judging by the extravagance of said dress that seemed to be a mix between a Chinese dress and a yukata with a wide, light purple belt under her ridiculously large breasts, it's safe to say she's a Sekirei. Now, that I think about it, on general, bodies like hers are a dead giveaway of our race. There are literally no human women that I've seen in my travels around the world with bodies like that. Well, not naturally anyway. Regardless, this woman's hourglass figure with such soft-looking gigantic breasts attached to it even made me feel envious for a moment… Until I realized that those same breasts would shoot her balance to hell if she tried to fight with a sword. So, how about I keep my body which is ideal to my way of fighting and instead look at bodies like this Kochou woman with lust instead of envy?

"…Please don't look at me like that." Kochou crossed her arms over her breasts and hid behind the man who looked like her Ashikabi.

"Yes, please don't look at my wife like that." The man looked at me with a frown as he embraced said wife and hid her from my sight.

"You've got to admit that a body like her's attracts attention." I smirked from my 'chair' at the uncomfortable Sekirei. "Congratulations on your marriage by the way, sister."

"Thank you..?" The gray haired woman nodded with slight confusion before looking at the man in whose arms she stood with love.

"Kakizaki, Kochou, sit down, we have much to discuss." Higa opened his eyes from the short nap and sighed tiredly as the aforementioned couple took the last 2 chairs in the room and focused on their tired boss.

"I have just accepted a deal offer from Rei here and she's about to fulfil her end of the bargain." Higa said, his voice as calm as ever.

"Rei?" Kochou stared at me in confusion, the dark red dot on her forehead looking oddly cute, before the confusion got swiftly replaced by realization and caution. "Number 51, Rei the Reaper, the Lieutenant Arbiter of the Disciplinary Squad? Are you sure it's wise to deal with such powers, my lord?"

"Disciplinary Squad?" Her Ashikabi's eyes became sharp and alert as he put his hand into the inner pocket of his suit, ready pull out whatever he had there.

"Calm down," Higa released another sigh. "If Rei truly wanted us dead, we'd all be dead. Regardless, you are here as analysts and listeners to what she has to say."

"Are you ready?" He turned to me and asked, clearly looking forward to getting through this and finishing this long day off.

"Of course." I grinned. "Where do you want me to start?"


	53. Gate:Sentiments

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

Note: So I noticed an interesting thing: People keep visiting Gate:Nightmare and Gate:Press (as in more than usual) for some reason. I'd like to hear this reason via your comments please. Do you keep coming because it's something I did there that was good?

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><p>All in all, the whole event went well, I thought as I walked slowly down the darkened streets of Shinto Teito. I got to see something interesting as well as find out that Higa has a close friend who is an Ashikabi of a very smart Sekirei. Kochou, regardless of what her type and subtype was, could compete with Matsu and Akitsu for the title of the smartest Sekirei or so I felt. That I've met so far anyway. She easily picked apart my attempt at a lecture which was basically me paraphrasing Akitsu's helicopter ride lecture. And then she proceeded to ask questions that baffled me. Things like: what determines the actual Norito? Is it predetermined since Initiation or can it be changed? Questions like that that I had no idea how to answer. In the end I just gave Kochou Akitsu's phone number and suggested she go talk to the MBI CRO herself.<p>

In the end, Higa admitted that my side of the bargain more than satisfied him and then proceeded to order Kakizaki to call off everyone he hired so far and to scrap that particular venture. Now I don't have to worry about Higa's assassins going after Chiho but I should probably warn Takami that Minato is still a legit target and they might try to get him through his sister, Yukari. On second thought, considering that this 'game' only has weeks left, they might not reach them in time. Regardless, I should still tell her of this possibility.

But that's all for later. Right now, I am going to enjoy the night scenery around me as I return to the MBI Tower after a long and productive day. The cool wind that whistled eerily through the completely empty streets added a surreal effect to the once busy place that was now a ghost town. The residents of this misfortunate city have learned to stay inside and barricade their doors after sunset as that is when most of the Sekirei-Ashikabi pairs come out to prowl the night and hunt for each other. It was fascinating, really, just how dead Shinto Teito became after sunset nowadays. Even the ever glowing billboards and advertisements seemed hollow and only increased the sense that the multi-million megapolis was actually a ghost city. Oh sure the windows shone and I could occasionally see faint figures cross out the light as they walked by a window, but honestly, it only added to the creepy ambience that the city emanated.

Slowing down, I looked up into the semi-clouded night sky. Right above me, a waning moon shone, clouds encircling it like walls defending a keep. Yet they only served to frame it, to focus its pale light down upon the city. Truly, a marvelous sight. Despite its slight horror-esque feel, the empty city bathed in moonlight made me feel calm and relaxed. I just wanted to stand here, my head tilted upwards, and stare at the beautiful moon forever. Alas, such a wish was just not meant to be as I heard a clash of steel and the din of battle faintly, a distance away. With a sigh, I turned west and headed towards the sound of combat to fulfill my duties as an Arbiter, picking up speed and height as I went on. I arrived to find a large intersection which, by all rights, should be busy in a metropolis like this even at this hour yet it was quite empty save for several people. Sitting down on the edge of a store roof overlooking the place, I looked on, my legs swinging slightly from the wind as they hanged in the emptiness.

So, on one side we have 3 Sekirei's with their 3 Ashikabi's cheering them on…or I think they are cheering them on, whatever. A Sekirei in skimpy clothes with short dark hair and 2 ninjatos. A male, red head Sekirei with a bow and an infinite supply of icicle arrows he conjured on the spot. His choice of clothing was typically bizarre as all Sekirei clothing was, a red overcoat that he wore unbuttoned on his naked body with a pair of black jeans. The final member of their team was a young woman with dark blue hair and square glasses wearing what seemed like form fitting leather biker outfit. Her choice of weapons gave me a pause though, I mean, she had 2 nails connected by a fine chain. Not particularly something one would expect, but she used it fluently and the fact that the chain seemed to contract and expand at its wielder's will certainly added surprise points to the weapon.

Facing them, with a calm concentrated look on her face, was my good old acquaintance, Mai. The girl with short, blood red hair still wore that ridiculous schoolgirl outfit, seemingly unconcerned about the lack of stuff between her skin and her enemy's weapons. She also still carried around that huge piece of sharpened metal that is called a sword by mistake. In fact, unless my eyes deceive me, she abandoned her claymore for an even bigger, anime-esque piece of metal that was easily bigger and wider than she was. In fact, as I watched, she constantly used it as a shield to block her enemy's attacks. Slightly off to the side, her Ashikabi stood with a bow at the ready, the arrow notched but aimed downwards as he watched warily at the trio of Ashikabi across from him. He…I forgot his name…oh well; anyway, he seemed quite unflustered for someone whose soul mate was currently fighting a 3 on 1. Around his neck hanged a huge gem, the light of the moon causing it to glow an ethereal light.

Ah, this battle suddenly made sense to me now. We have a bunch of Ashikabi who banded together to take on a superior foe. No doubt the moment Mai falls, they'll turn on each other in their greed to get the Jinki much like a pack of hyenas. That is, if Mai falls which seems to be under a big question right now.

Thing is, it might be a 3 on scenario, but their lack of coordination and trust allowed their superior foe not only evade or block their attacks gracefully, but also smack them around. Mai's blade, which ordinary would've weighted twice or thrice her weight, whistled through the cool night air with seemingly no effort from the red head Sekirei. Amusingly enough, it's momentum stayed though as she swatted the ninjato Sekirei aside as the girl tried to leap at her. The poor girl got sent flying across the street and deep into a clothing shop for her troubles. She got quite lucky though, as she hit the glass door rather than the brick wall which was right beside said door.

Still, being hit by what was effectively a truck force-wise wasn't healthy even for us Sekirei who have much sturdier bodies than humans. So it was no surprise to me that when the Sekirei in question stumbled out of the clothing shop she was quite injured and, judging by her limp and how she kept her right arm over her ribs, in terrible shape. That was a massive amount of damage for a single hit and the moment she stumbled out of the shop, she tripped, fell and stilled, unmoving. It would seem that the fight is over for at least 1 contestant for the Jinki tonight.

By Mai's flawless dance, I could easily see why she won the 2nd round of Stage 3. Also, now that I've had a while to examine her from the side, I have a growing suspicion that her power is momentum and inertia related. That metal rail she sharpened for some reason and labeled as a sword is always in motion, never stopping. In fact, no matter what her opponent did, it never even slowed down. When Mai hit a homerun with that ninjato Sekirei, her blade acted like it never hit anything and merely continued on its merry way, pulling it's user out of the way of an arrow.

Fascinating how one moment Mai changed her sword's trajectory practically 180 degrees in an instant, completely ignoring things like momentum and inertia. Then, without breaking stride, she gets pulled in a completely random direction by seemingly nothing in order to dodge an enemy attack. Her absolutely confusing ability wreaked havoc on her enemies. Not only did they have to deal with a massive blade that could change trajectory in mid-flight, but Mai also kept getting pulled by seemingly random jerks all over the place, letting her reposition herself to constantly to keep her enemies at a disadvantage. Considering that she seemed perfectly in control of her ability, the fight wasn't going anywhere good for her opponents who had yet to show anything impressive.

Now that I look at her, I am not sure that I could best her by sheer sword skill anymore, not without Gate:Open giving me that massive edge I enjoy with it. In fact, considering I just saw Mai flip herself high into the air via her sword and then again, this time while in midair with no support before crashing down on her enemies with the force of a meteor all in the space of a second or 2… I think given more time, Mai might even give Kara a good fight. She's certainly capable of giving me one if this show is any indication of her skills.

"We are done here." Mai's Ashikabi said harshly to the trio who cowered a distance away. "Be gone."

Much to my surprise that quickly turned into dismay, the bastards fled without so much as bothering to check if their Sekirei were alive or not. What a shameful display. It was a pity that killing these assholes would also kill their Sekirei. Wait…hang on…

"Woah!" The fastest coward had to stop suddenly to avoid crashing into me, falling on his ass as he wasn't capable of ignoring momentum like Mai.

"Wha- Arbiter!?" His buddy, another standard looking young man cried out at my sudden descent from the sky, causing Mai and her Ashikabi to turn to us.

"Why are- Oh god!" The only woman of the group, a young girl, started speaking only to cry out in horror as I stomped on the leg of the downed man; a sharp crack and a scream ringing through the chill air. Before the other 2 could so much as take a step back in fear, I drew my swords and slashed at their legs. I made sure to wound them in such a manner that it would only be a flesh wound. I wanted to punish them for their behaviour, not leave them as cripples for their Sekirei to tend to.

"You are unworthy of being Ashikabi." I calmly told the moaning trio on the cold asphalt who clutched at their legs. Leaving the wretches behind, I made my way over to the closest downed Sekirei who happened to be the ninjato girl. After surveying her to find out that she seemed to have a ton of bruises and perhaps a few broken bones – her left arm bent at an odd angle – I was satisfied with the realization that she wasn't terminated. I picked her up gently and made it over to the crater that was left over from Mai's impressive attack that demolished her opponents. Ignoring Mai and her Ashikabi who both pointed their weapons at me in wariness, I surveyed the duo laying in a heap. Surprisingly, the male archer was perfectly fine, if one was to discount a massive bruised cut on his forehead. Must've been knocked out with a piece of debris. His partner on the other hand, was in terrible shape as she took on Mai's meteor attack practically with her face. There were dozens of bruises, cuts and a couple of the sharper debris pieces were actually stuck in her body, piercing the Sekirei's skin. Unless treated quickly, she'd no doubt bleed out, resulting in a Level 3 Termination.

"Where's the nearest hospital?" I turned to Mai and her Ashikabi who flinched at my attention. It would seem that they still thought quite highly of my abilities. I had to suppress a laugh at their faces when I promptly left, carrying 3 bodies, after getting the directions.

As I watched the doctors scramble to get the 2 girls into emergency surgery to save their lives while the male was treated for a severe contusion, I, more than ever, grew firm in my belief that humanity wasn't ready for Sekirei. And that Sekirei generally couldn't be trusted to pick their Ashikabi. Sure there were quite a few good Ashikabi in this city like Higa Izumi, Chiho Hidaka, Minato Sahashi and, hell, even Seo qualified to a degree. But for each one good Ashikabi there seems to be a good number of trash like the trio I ran into minutes ago who were perfectly happy to leave their Sekirei, their Bond-mates, to die as they fled without so much as a backwards glance. However, perhaps I am being a bit too...set in stone about this. After all, Higa used to be a total dick about the whole bonding thing until the death of one of his Sekirei made his realize that this wasn't all fun and games anymore. Perhaps these Ashikabi would grow up after me lesson? Well, I could dream I suppose but somehow I doubt that what I did was enough. It certainly wasn't the agonizing pain of a bond being broken after all.

No, when I and Kara go back, we will make sure to weed out trash like that, possibility or no. In fact, we'll need Akitsu, Takehito and Takami to figure out a way to break those sort of bonds. Hell, even death would be preferable to being bonded to filth like that. Hmm, I might be onto something here. I need to ask Akitsu what exactly happens to a Sekirei if their Ashikabi dies. Sure the short answer is death, but if the Tama stays intact couldn't we revive them? Maybe this would even 'reset' their bodies so to say. Well, this is certainly an idea I need to think more about…

It was with these thoughts that I walked through the ghostly Shinto Teito, heading towards the MBI Tower that looked maliciously over the rest of the metropolis.

* * *

><p>I leaned my head against the helicopter window and looked at the seemingly endless blue fabric, all bunched up and uneven as the waves marched on. Beside me, a ruffled up man sat, tied up and gaged to shut him up. Who he was, I didn't know but neither did I particularly care. Considering he was the only survivor of a group of suicidal thugs, his health was of no concern to me. I mean really, I think I might've mentioned before that normal people – as in those with a functional brain – tended to stay inside after sunset in Shinto Teito for the exact reason why this fool was in the helicopter with me right now. In fact, the only thing I lamented about this incident, was that I was so surprised by their ambush that by the time I came out of shock the other 4 muggers died of completely natural causes. The morgue might disagree with 'being sliced to bits' as a natural cause but in my honest opinion it was a completely natural cause of death for a bandit. They all ended up that way at one point of time or another, so the only one who'd suffer an 'unnatural' cause of death would be this guy who I took alive for the sake of experimentation. I needed to figure out how my Norito worked after all.<p>

Today it's going to be Haihane's turn to activate her Norito if I am not mistaken, I wonder if Kara will have her fight me. Although, now that I think about it, she won't. Haihane's speed is ludicrous in that Norito of hers which would force me to fight her seriously with the use of my abilities. Trouble is, although her speed is insane, her skill in using it and her general skill do not match with it by far. She simply does not have the overall characteristics to defeat me, speed alone will only serve to get her sliced to bits by Gate:Open.

She's in this strange zone where she can force me to fight seriously, yet by doing so she'll die. If I don't fight seriously on the other hand, she'll steamroll me. In comparison, Kara outclasses both of us to such a degree that she can defeat us without harm – or, in my case, serious harm. This is why I think Kara will train her to bring her general skills to match her ridiculous speed first before thinking about having her duel me.

It's this problem with me, really. I am far too dangerous for someone of my skill level. Sure, due to my Irregular nature, I am an excellent close combat fighter, but I am pretty sure a standard Enhancement type Sekirei with my training could obliterate me. However this is where the major 'but' came in. My danger level is preposterously higher than my skill level. Even Kara, with her incredible might and skill, if she's not careful when dueling with me, she can die in an instant. Having an ability that has absolutely no counter tends to do that.

Unfortunate, but nothing can be done about it. More importantly, back to Haihane getting caught up to her speed. If she does, I am afraid my poor little student will be left in the dust. With the addition of the Norito, Beni can do absolutely nothing to Haihane. I mean, if Uzume couldn't hit her even once with her supersonic arrows while Haihane was recuperating from her injuries, then there's no way Beni, who is much slower than the Silk Sekirei, would be able to do anything. Considering the fact that Beni's Norito is strictly anti-fortress or anti-building type, using it on Haihane is an absolute waste of power. Haihane would be able to practically walk out of the impact zone with her agility and speed.

Well, I guess there's nothing that could be done about this either. No matter how much Beni trains now, there's no way the Siege Sekirei will be able to defeat the Blue Sekirei. I mean really, forcing artillery and an assassin to go against each other may have made more sense before the assassin got a jet to get to the target.

So, instead of wasting Beni's time on duels, it's time to really focus on the Siege aspect of my cute little student's abilities. From now on, we're going to have so much fun leveling buildings, fortifications, islands… Perhaps, with Beni's power evolved enough, in the future we might see Beni sink entire islands and level cities. If she ever gets to that stage, I think her problem with duels might solve itself. I mean, it would be difficult to fight someone who just leveled the entire area and everyone in it.

Perhaps she'll be a bit unhappy about the harsh reality right now, but in the future I am sure my fiery eyed sister will make her name feared… Provided we survive this 'game' of course, I thought darkly as I stared at my fiddly captive.


	54. Gate:Pillar

Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.

* * *

><p>"Tch, of course they'd go far." I muttered to myself as I traveled across the barren landscape towards the sounds of combat and occasional tremor that originated in the Northern part of the island. Unlike the South part where we practised last time, the North part is much larger and hell of a lot more mountainous. The fact that I had my test subject on my back really didn't help as the damn bastard weighted a good bit. Normally, I wouldn't care but having to jump across mountainous terrain with baggage that refuses to stop squirming and keeps trying to…<p>

I stared at the shred of cloth in my hands and then at the body of captive rapidly growing smaller as it hurled towards the embrace of welcoming earth. How the fuck did he manage to not only rip the sweater and rope I carried him by but also do it right at the exact time I was jumping over a ravine so deep I couldn't even see the bottom? For fucks sake, I carried that smelly bastard all the way here only for him to escape and instantly fall to his death? Gods damn it, what a disappointment. Oh well, I thought as I tossed the shred of cloth after its owner, guess no Norito practise for me today. Might as well hurry up and find my team so I can join them in other training.

* * *

><p>I found them in a giant circle of black sand, a tell-tale sign of Beni's Norito. Said Sekirei was currently resting with her head in Chiho's lap as they watched Haihane in her Norito form fight Kara while Uzume provided ranged support. Kara on the other hand lazily swung her sword, the nodachi knocking arrows out of the sky and Haihane's claws away from its owner with ease. She also periodically blasted her opponents with various doses of her intimidation aura, occasionally going even so far as to call out the crow. To my surprise, they didn't so much as flinch – unless she brought out the crow – anymore. Looks like they've been doing this for a while for them to learn how to ignore it.<p>

I frowned as I felt a breeze of cold air on my neck and turned only to stumble back in surprise.

"D-don't do that!" I gasped at a faintly smirking Akitsu who hovered before me, great wings of crystal ice beating in the air softly.

"Good day, Rei." The ice Sekirei greeted me, that smirk still on her face, pleased that she snuck up on me successfully. I merely sighed in response, sometimes I wish my Ill Intent sense picked up more than Ill Intent. Pranks are not ill intent after all…most of the time.

Meanwhile, my arrival finally drew attention as Kara waved at me and by doing so alerted everyone else to my presence. While Beni and Chiho made their way over for a collective hug, Haihane and Uzume merely waved and took the pause to take a brief rest. Kara, in turn, beckoned me closer, her intent clear. With a smile full of anticipation I got out of the hug after ruffling Beni's and Chiho's hair and made my way over to Kara, drawing my swords as I went. I did miss out on our daily morning spar today after all.

"All 3 of you." Kara called out as I approached, my blades glowing faint blue, ready to tear the border between the realms apart.

"Are you sure?" I paused to ask, frowning. Although it is true that Kara far outclassed me in skill, the gap in our danger levels was practically diametrically reversed. Kara may pound people into the ground and her speed is phenomenal but she just didn't have the edge Gate:Open gave to me. An unblockable and unparriable attack that could instantly kill if it hits that I could literally use with every other blow was what made me so dangerous. Actually, now that I think about it, out of all of my abilities, only Gate:Nova can be blocked and that's because it's not a direct ability of mine. All of my other direct abilities like Gate:Swap and Gate:Random cannot be blocked, only dodged and this is where the problem with fighting 3 of us at the same time comes in. Kara may be good but when facing an opponent that could instantly kill you if you aren't paying enough attention any distractions – such as more opponents – could very well be deadly.

"It will be a good practise for me." Kara shrugged a grin full of eagerness on her face. "Let's go!"

With those words she charged me, amping her speed and power to a 'serious' mode. Looks like she wants to go all out all right away. Very well, let's see how this goes. I mean, Kara needs to evolve her power too somehow and none here but Akitsu can provide such a fight for our captain. The problem with getting Akitsu involved though is that they very well might sink the island back to from where it came if they get too carried away. Of course, I wouldn't be as stupid as to claim that the three of us were as powerful as former number 7 but I alone was just as dangerous. Kara always had to be on guard and treat me with great caution as one wrong move on her behalf might cost her a sword or more. All of this flashed through my mind as I frantically filled the space before me with rends in border of the Realms, keeping Kara away before Haihane and Uzume got over their shock of being hit by the full terror of Kara's crow phantom.

It was a little strange, but ever since I've spent that week in Spirit Realm, I found that my sense of fear atrophied greatly. In order for me to feel more than a mild discomfort the source of said fear has to be truly great. Something that would send others feeling with a mere whisper of its name. It's actually the main reason why I can stand Miya's, Kara's and Akitsu's intimidation techniques so well. Even now, with Kara's crow in full glory screeching at me, I only feel a slight chill inside. Yet that same screech rendered both Uzume and Haihane frozen in fear that they struggled to overcome. Unlike Chiho who was in Beni's arms with her eyes and ears covered, the two shivered in fear and they weren't even the target of Kara's technique. Still, Haihane's and Uzume's exposure to Kara's technique allowed them to slowly overcome their fear and I think they are just about ready to come to my aid.

I frowned as I began to feel the strain at fighting at such speeds and the fact that Kara's blows were literally hammering at me like a hammer on a nail. The fact that her miasma corroded my armour a bit with each glancing blow didn't help me at all. We've been fighting for maybe 30 seconds or so and half of my armour looks like it had been dipped in strong acid for a while. If this keeps going, I won't have armour to protect me for much longer. Thankfully, Kara's corrosive miasma seems to have no effect on the Sekirei metal my swords are made of because replacing those would've been impossible. Takami did make that particular part clear when I almost lost them by accident.

I breathed out in relief when instead of landing another glancing blow on my armour Kara changed her blade's trajectory to deflect an arrow and then whirl to force Haihane back before ending the spin with a thunderous blow that I blocked. True, I slid back a foot from the force but now that I had allies distracting Kara, fewer blows came my way.

That being said, although Uzume and Haihane had experience fighting against a superior foe together as a team, they certainly didn't have much experience fighting alongside me. I had the same problem as to this day, I never actually fought against someone with a team supporting me. I always either fought alone or fled if things got too dangerous. The few times I had backup – like the fight on the bridge – I still mostly fought alone. Thankfully though, all 3 of us trusted each other and knew one another enough to at least not get in each other's way. Sure, there were several…dozen close calls but we managed to lock down Kara who was fighting us seriously for several minutes now.

This couldn't continue though. Although Kara actually showed signs of fatigue for once, sweat on her forehead and temples, her dementedly gigantic grin showed that she was having far too much fun for something as little as fatigue to slow her down any time soon. We on the other hand were getting worn out. Although Kara focused on me, Haihane still got hit by the occasional miasma coated riposte which really did a number on her. Most of her clothes and bandages were eroded away and several blades on her claws were missing.

I, having taken the brunt of Kara's assault, was getting really worried about my armour now. Bits and pieces of it were falling apart right before my eyes, the miasma corroding them into nothingness. I also was getting really tired as I've never fought for so long at the peak of my skill. I was starting to make mistakes and the only reason why I didn't catch a direct blow so far was thanks to Uzume, whose supersonic arrows forced Kara to abandon the attacks and deflect the arrows instead.

Uzume was being incredibly useful truth be told. As a support, she traveled around the battlefield on those silk strands of hers, easily getting good angles from which she rained arrows on our sparring partner. True, she did absolutely no damage, but then again, neither did we. Even Kara's clothes were in perfect shape. Still, Uzume's silky spears, that she insists are arrows, are incredible at distracting Kara who has to put some effort in deflecting them due to their mass and speed. Granted, all this actually means is that instead of spending irate instant to swat it away, she spends 2 or 3 but in a high speed battle such as this having a couple more moments is enough to get out of the way and rebuild one's guard in preparation for the next strike.

"I think we are done, for now." Kara said suddenly and next thing I know I am flying backwards, a ditch of fine sand created as the earth catches my form. Propping myself up, I see Haihane drunkenly get up from the end of a similar trench while Kara stood, breathing heavily with her face drenched with sweat. Her sword was unwavering though and still coated in that miasma that slowly dripped down on the black sand, a faint hiss erupting each time it contacted the ground. Off to the side, Uzume rested; the silk Sekirei trusted Kara's words and hit the floor instantly. Or maybe she was just so tired; she did have to shoot those white lances of hers that littered the battleground approximately twice a second. Considering she had to first draw that great bow of hers first, then create and knock her lance-arrow, take aim and only then did she fire, I wouldn't doubt that Uzume was even more tired than I or Haihane were.

Speaking of Haihane, the instant she realized that the fight was over, she deactivated her Norito and fell face forward into the black sand, asleep the moment she let go. While Chiho and Beni rushed over to check on her, I forced myself up, sheathed my swords and walked over to Kara. The Black Sekirei stood panting, that psychotically happy grin still on her face. She did sheathe her nodachi and dismiss her phantom though.

"We should do this again." Kara said as I stopped before the happy woman. "You actually pushed me."

"We might not be able to do it again today though." I turned to look at Beni and Chiho who tried to raise Haihane. Their efforts were futile though, as the Blue Sekirei ignored them and slept on. The duo eventually gave up and carried her over to where they sat and watched us from. Uzume waved lazily to greet them as she lay sprawled on the sand at the location.

"Today, tomorrow, it doesn't matter." I was startled as strong arms enveloped me from behind and I could feel Kara lean against me, sighing in contentedness. "We will all grow stronger from this."

I merely smiled softly and covered her hands with mine as we both looked at the approaching Akitsu who still had her wings out.

"Haihane has severe exhaustion." She began in her usual soft tone. "She'll be fine tomorrow but I doubt she'll wake before then. Uzume is fine but I suggest against straining her more today. How about you Rei?"

"I'll recover completely by evening." I admitted. I may seem fine but fighting for so long at the peak of my strength had left me quite drained. I could still draw my blades and fight but it would be a pathetic sight. Out of everyone who participated in that fight only Kara was fine. A bit more rest and our captain would be at full power once more.

"I see, that is good." Akitsu said seriously. "I just got a call from the Director. He has round 4 scheduled for tomorrow and has an important mission that he needs the Disciplinary Squad for so he asked you to return by morning."

"Tch, very well." Kara rolled her eyes, showing just how little she thought of the White Clown's 'important mission'.

"Rei, why did Kochou call me and start discussing things she shouldn't know with me?" Akitsu asked calmly but her eyes were slightly narrowed, showing her irritation with me.

"Because I made a deal with Higa for which she was present and thus heard my end of the bargain." Sensing slight movement behind me I tilted my head to Kara. "Kochou is a Sekirei of Higa's old friend so they were both invited by him."

"Higa?" Kara muttered to herself. "Ah, that Ashikabi who was there at the 3rd Round. Very well, now what was the deal."

"I gave him some information on Norito and he called of all current and future assassins he had going after Chiho." I admitted freely and then continued. "I mean, sure we can protect our Ashikabi but that would mean we'd have to be with her constantly and everywhere. I very much doubt Haihane, Beni or Uzume could protect her from a sniper's bullet and all other ways to protect our dear Ashikabi are too troublesome."

"And you expect Higa Izumi to hold his word?" Akitsu carefully raised her left eyebrow.

"He changed over the past month." I said simply. "I trust him now."

"Very well." Kara finally replied as she let go and walked over to stand beside me, her grin finally back to her usual level. "You've protected Chiho from underhand play, that's good. Was there anything else, Akitsu?"

"Actually, I have a question if you don't mind." I addressed the icy Sekirei who merely waited for me to continue. "I've talked with number 109, Dai some time ago and she explained the type-subtype system to me. She also mentioned that Kara was an Enhancement Squared type but if that's true, what's up with the corrosive miasma?"

"Enhancement Squared?" Kara looked at me in surprise. "What is this?"

"I am sure Rei will fill you in later, Karasuba." Akitsu paused, looking at me before deciding something for herself. "The system number 109 talks about is outdated. Takami and I have decided to discontinue it in favour of making a new one. We are still working it out but I can tell you that while Karasuba did in fact start out as Enhancement Type with Enhancement Subtype, she also gained an additional subtype. Her Corrosion Subtype is something she gained as she stepped on the path to become a Pillar. I am sorry, I cannot tell you more in case this information falls into wrong hands. For whatever reasons."

"Path to become a Pillar?" Kara frowned. "What's this – Hey! Get back here!"

"I'll see you at MBI tower tomorrow." Akitsu replied before taking off sharply, her icy wings beating fast to give her an incredible acceleration as she flew straight to Shinto Teito, not bothering to take a helicopter there.

"Tch, she got away." Kara frowned in disappointment before looking at her hands as if it was her first time seeing them. "Pillar, huh?"


End file.
